Kevin de Bruyne's world-class free-kick broke downLeicester City's stubborn resistance at the King Power Stadium and allowed Manchester City to move to the top of the premier league.
Brendan Rodgers had set up his team to contain the reigning champion and it had worked well until De Bruyne curled a magnificent strike into the top corner four minutes after the break.
Even though they missed the killer touch of the absent Erling Haaland, City's goal was reward for their dominance.
The Foxes almost broke out of their defensive shell when Youri Tielemans hit a volley from a corner that Ederson turned on to the bar, but they didn't have enough attacking intent or quality to test the City defence.
Manchester City are back in the same position they've been in for a long time, despite the fact that they can return to the top of the table with a victory against Forest at the weekend.
The goals of Haaland have been the main talking point of Manchester City's season so far, but the brilliant Norwegian was missing here due to illness and an injury that forced him to leave the game at half-time in the European Championship.
It was a chance to see how Manchester City compensated for his absence and in the first half, whenLeicester City simply sat back and let the champion attack with the occasional counter-attacking threat of their own, the sheer physical presence and air of menace presented by Haaland would have been
Even without Haaland, Manchester City showed why they were the premier league's biggest force years before his arrival by conjuring up a spectacular moment from another area to win this difficult fixture.
It was De Bruyne who delivered the free-kick that was unstoppable, glancing off the frame of the goal and out of the reach of Danny Ward.
The celebrations at the final whistle demonstrated their delight at a team who had been showing improved form, despite the anxious moment of Tielemans hitting the bar.
After the disappointing loss to Manchester City, there must have been a sense that they were too cautious.
If they were offered a draw at any point in the game, the Foxes would have taken it.
It was always going to be a challenge to implement such a major change of gameplan once Manchester City scored, and so it proved when De Bruyne turned on his magic just after half-time.
The frustration for Rodgers was that when his side adopted an enforced positive approach, they actually caused the visitors problems, as shown by the thunderous Tielemans strike touching on to the bar by Ederson and an incident in the dying seconds when John Stones directed a nervous headed straight.
The warm applause when they reached half-time goalless was a sign that the fans understood the approach, but they also wanted a more active approach.
Their attempts to disrupt Manchester City came too late.
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