For the first time, Raheem Sterling scored his 20th goal of the season. For the first time at the Etihad, Sergio Aguero scored in a seventh consecutive home game en route to netting four.
For the first time for City, Kevin de Bruyne got a trio of assists. It all explains why Pep Guardiola’s side are cruising to the title.
It shows why they hardly needed Riyad Mahrez, the signing who eluded them on transfer deadline day. The Algerian returned to the Leicester ranks as a substitute, but he was not the winger to score and star.
That was Sterling. Many a striker would be happy to get 20 goals in a season. Sterling is a winger and he has reached the landmark in early February.
He had never previously got more than 11 goals in a campaign. Now he is on course for 30. No wonder Mahrez wanted to play for Guardiola.
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Sterling is proof he transforms players. Sterling missed from three yards last week. It cost City victory at Burnley. It did not damage his confidence. There was no repeat.
When De Bruyne delivered a cross, Sterling stabbed home a shot from close range. But for brilliant defending from Aleksandar Dragovic, he would have had a brace.
Instead, Aguero ended with a quartet. He scored with a lovely chip after Kasper Schmeichel gave the ball away, and also a ferocious long-range shot.
He is on his best scoring streak at the Etihad, where he now has 14 goals in seven games. De Bruyne swapped passes with Sterling and steered a low centre into the Argentinian’s path for another strike.
Another Schmeichel error and De Bruyne pass brought his other goal. De Bruyne had complained he was tired after last week’s draw at Burnley.
Seven days later, after the closest he will get to a winter break, he looked refreshed and rejuvenated. Once again, he was remarkable.
His passing was incisive and influential. But so was another man who tends to deliver when on these stages.
There was a pattern of Manchester City dominance and Leicester City defence before the visitors levelled. Much as Mahrez has occupied the attention, Jamie Vardy may be more important.
The king of the counterattack scored his fifth goal in as many games against Manchester City, robbing Oleksandr Zinchenko after the Ukrainian was sold short by Nicolas Otamendi’s poor pass.
Vardy accelerated away and his shot deflected in off Aymeric Laporte. As for Mahrez, he left Fernandinho on his backside with a slaloming solo run.
Ilkay Gundogan was booked for a foul on a man who might have become his team-mate had the transfer window turned out differently.
Otherwise, the Algerian may have looked on in envy at another superb City display. He could have been a part of it.