A curling Kevin De Bruyne free kick was enough to give Manchester City a 0-1 win against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.
The Citizens were without Erling Haaland in Saturday's early kick off, but were eventually able to break The Foxes down with the contest goalless at the break.
Brendan Rodgers' side defended well against last season's champions but were dominated by a strong City side.
Story of the match
The hosts made two switches to their starting lineup from their 2-0 win against Leeds United, with Jamie Vardy and Caglar Soyuncu coming in for Patson Daka and Boubakary Soumare.
Pep Guardiola named seven changes to his City side that drew 0-0 against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
The most notable of the alterations was Haaland, who could not make the bench for the trip to the Midlands.
De Bruyne, Ederson and Jack Grealish all started for The Citizens, but Phil Foden could only make the bench.
Leicester had a very defensive setup which was clear from the kick off, lining up in a 5-4-1 formation and using a low block against the champions.
Rodri lifted the ball over The Foxes' defence from the edge of the box, but there was no City player able to get on the end of the pass.
James Justin broke down the left-hand side and looked to cross, but was well marshalled by John Stones, and the ball went behind for a goal kick.
City pressure
De Bruyne looked to aim a floated cross to the back post, but it was too strong and went out for a goal kick.
Joao Cancelo lifted the ball to Ilkay Gundogan, who tried to lob the goalkeeper with a backwards header, but Danny Ward was equal to it.
Timothy Castagne made an important block to stop a cross getting into the box.
The resulting corner nearly provided the opener, as Grealish's cross was flicked on by Rodri, which Ward could only awkwardly tip over the bar.
The ball hardly left the host's half in the opening 15 minutes.
Julian Alvarez raced to get onto the end of a through ball, but could not quite meet the pass.
It was a big day for the Argentinian, who had been given the chance by Guardiola to step up in Haaland's absence.
The flag was up against the 22-year-old soon after, who thought he was in on goal.
His effort was saved even if he had managed to time his run well.
Bernardo Silva forced a smart stop from Ward, when De Bruyne cut the ball back to the Portuguese winger who volleyed goalward, but it was kept out by the foot of the English goalkeeper.
The Citizens dominated the opening stages and were continuing to probe for the first goal of the game.
At the other end, Ederson made a good save down low to palm away Harvey Barnes' shot which had threatened to sneak in at the near post.
The resulting corner was headed away by Rodri.
Alvarez was denied a good headed chance when he was beaten to the ball by a Leicester defender just before he looked to head goalward.
De Bruyne had a shot from range for City, but the shot was straight at Ward.
James Maddison looked to break forward for the first time in the game around the half hour mark, but he failed to pick out Vardy who would have been in on goal.
Barnes looked to dribble past Stones, but the former Everton defender held his ground and the chance came to nothing for The Foxes.
Wout Faes was on hand to head away a deep cross from De Bruyne, who had not quite found his usual passing range in the game early on.
There were appeals for a penalty by the visitors when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall brought Grealish down in the box, but he was just about able to get enough contact on the ball to make the challenge fair.
Barnes drove down the left-hand side and cut in to shoot, but his effort was wayward and could not test Ederson.
Having had very few chances in the tie, it was a real waste from the Englishman who had worked well the fashion the opening for Brendan Rodgers' side.
Aymeric Laporte could only manage a tame header wide of the post for The Citizens from a corner.
Maddison was alert to ensure Cancelo could not find a target in the host's box, sending his cross behind for a corner which came to nothing.
Faes was fortunate to turn the ball just past his own post in one of the final actions of the first half.
City had been dominant in the first half, but it was goalless at the break.
Leicester had defended well to ensure there were no goals in the opening 45 minutes.
Rodri came close to scoring the opener as soon as the second half started.
The ball was cut back to the Spaniard, who fired the ball narrowly wide of the post.
De Bruyne gave The Citizens the lead with a superb free kick in the 49th minute.
The ball was dipping and curled onto the inside of the left post and in to break The Foxes' resistance.
The Foxes push for a reply
Vardy looked for an instant response as he burst forwards for the hosts but was crowded out before he could cross.
Youri Tielemans was denied one of the goals of the season by Ederson.
The Belgian volleyed the ball from a corner which thundered onto the bar, which Ederson had managed to get a hand on to divert away from goal.
Leicester had responded well to going behind in the tie.
Rodri whipped the ball into the far post, but it could not quite be met by a City player.
Silva looked to get on the end of a pass, but was tackled before he could look to create an opening or shoot himself.
Cancelo skipped a couple of challenges as he made his way into the box but eventually Faes was able to clear for The Foxes.
Maddison made a clever run to break free of his man, but the pass into him could not quite pick the 25-year-old out.
There was a VAR check for a handball in the Man City box, but the appeals were quickly dismissed.
Substitute Kelechi Iheanacho's strike on goal went wide, but The Foxes had seemed more threatening after introducing the Nigerian alongside Patson Daka.
Justin's strike from range was nowhere near challenging Ederson in The Citizens' goal.
Castagne had a good chance to equalise, but the ball went off his shoulder and went over.
Daka had a free header after a lobbed ball beat Ruben Dias, but the header was straight at Ederson.
Iheanacho stole the ball off Laporte and cut in to shoot, but it was easily saved.
The hosts nearly had a fortunate leveller in added time, when Stones headed the ball off Dias, going just wide in the end.
De Bruyne broke away down the other end but Silva could not get onto the end of the cross.
Full time saw Manchester City secure an important win in the Midlands against a Leicester side who have improved significantly of late.
The visitors deserved the victory, but Rodgers' side could be proud of their efforts to make life difficult for Guardiola and his players.
City returned to the top of the Premier League table with the win.
Player of the match
The difference between the two sides, De Bruyne's wonderful free kick was enough to make him the Player of the Match.
In truth, he struggled to break down the host's backline despite his usual pinpoint accuracy in his passing.
He was able to come up with the all-important free kick from range however to secure three vital points for his side.
The fact that that the Belgian can be the best player on the pitch without producing his best shows just how good the 31-year-old is.