Frank Lampard was all smiles after scoring the winner for Manchester City
The on-loan midfielder scored his 175th Premier League goal to help Manchester City win at Leicester. It took him to joint fourth on the all-time list and provided further ammunition for Manuel Pellegrini to do everything to extend his deal from New York City until the end of the season.
Lampard already has six goals in just 13 appearances for City and his team-mates cannot speak highly enough of him.
"He is a great guy and he has fitted in perfectly," said Sagna of the former Chelsea player. "He showed here that he can score important goals and he is a great player.
"It's difficult to defend against him. He is a quick-moving player. You have to keep in shape. You have to keep alive.
"You have to focus even more. To play against these types of players is so difficult. All of them are top, world-class players.
"He was always very good. He has shown many times that he is a great player. As long as we have him on board, it's always good.
Kompany and Dzeko injured in Manchester City win
"His goal record doesn't surprise me because he is a great professional. He keeps working really hard in training.
"He always tries his best and he is always ready to come in, even if it's for 10 minutes. He is one of the best English players I have ever seen."
Lampard's clever finish in the 40th minute from Samir Nasri's pass settled a poor game of few chances.
He is a great guy and he has fitted in perfectly
Bacary Sagna
But Pellegrini has problems after Edin Dzeko (calf) pulled out in the warm-up and then Vincent Kompany suffered a reoccurrence of his hamstring problem.
With Sergio Aguero and Stevan Jovetic also sidelined, Pellegrini may now decide to play James Milner as an emergency frontman.
"We'll see," he said. "We'll work this week, we have players that can play better in that position, can be David Silva, can be Milner, we'll see. We must try all our options and decide.
"James is a very useful player for the squad. Maybe at some moments of the season he wants to play more games, but he's played in every position, that's why he's very important for the squad, that's why he's here, that's why we renew his contract because outside the pitch and inside the pitch he's a very important player for the squad."
Leicester are now 11 games without a win and five points from safety but were unfortunate to be on the losing side having given a good account of themselves against the champions.
Nigel Pearson: Leicester need points, not performances
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"It was clear we matched them in every department," said captain Wes Morgan. "There's been a bit of negative publicity, but we were out there giving it our all. We could sense the fans willing us to win the game and we tried our best.
"We just need a break. It was disappointing. The first half we were the better team so we will take the positives from that."
Manager Nigel Pearson concedes it will be tough to survive. "Teams don't easily get out of this," he said. "It requires the skill in terms of being able to perform, you need the mental capacity to deal with being at the bottom of the league and dealing with negativity from other areas.
"But they are a very positive group and our mentality has to be one of belief in ourselves and each other. If we put in performances like this, things will turn around."
Leicester (4-5-1): Hamer 7; Simpson 6, Wasilewski 6, Morgan 6, Konchesky 6; Mahrez 6, Cambiasso 7, Drinkwater 6 (Knockaert 79), King 5, Schlupp 6 (Ulloa 64, 6); Vardy 6 (Powell 73). NEXT UP: West Ham (a) Saturday, PL.
Man City (4-5-1): Hart 6; Sagna 6, Kompany 7 (Demichelis 77), Mangala 6, Clichy 6; Silva 7, Fernando 6, Toure 7, Lampard 7 (Milner 60, 6), Nasri 7; Pozo 5 (Navas 74). Booked: Nasri, Hart. NEXT UP: Crystal Palace (h) Saturday, PL.
