MANCHESTER, England - Leicester stunned Manchester City 3-1 on Saturday to bolster its bid to become the unlikeliest champion in English football history.

Leicester, which was fighting relegation from the Premier League a year ago, was five points clear of second-place Tottenham, while City tumbled to third.

Leicester wasn't even reliant on striker Jamie Vardy, the league top-scorer whose new contract through 2019 was announced after the victory over the 2012 and 2014 champion.

Defender Robert Huth scored inside three minutes and again on the hour after Riyad Mahrez netted at the start of the second half. Sergio Aguero claimed a late consolation.

"It was a good performance," Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri said. "Difficult, because you're playing against a team with players of fantastic quality, but we concentrated very much.

"We wanted to try to win without pressure, just enjoy the match, and try to do our best. The first goal was very good for our confidence, and then we closed all the space."

Leicester has never won the top flight, and its squad wasn't assembled by spending hundreds of millions of pounds like City did.

City also remains in both domestic cup competitions and the Champions League, while Leicester's only focus is the league.

City hoped to pull level with Ranieri's team at the top of the table but instead ended the day trailing them by six points.

This was City's first home game since the announcement that Pellegrini was leaving at the end of the season and being replaced by outgoing Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola.

Leicester's display, loaded with speed and energy, could mean Pellegrini does not leave a Premier League winner for a second time.

"We had a lot of possession but didn't create a lot of chances until the last 20-25 minutes of the first half where we had chances to equalize," Pellegrini said. "But, at the beginning of the second half, we let in another goal. So, overall, we were worse than Leicester."

The warning signs were evident from early on and Leicester never allowed City's vulnerable central defensive duo of Martin Demichelis and Nicolas Otamendi to settle.

Leicester caught the hosts napping with the first opportunity after three minutes. Mahrez's free kick bounced through the area from the right and Huth was the quickest to react six yards out.

Demichelis tried to get his body in the way of Huth's flicked shot but succeeded only in diverting it past the helpless defender Joe Hart.

City was ragged and things could have got considerably worse as they were pulled apart continually in the opening 20 minutes.

Leicester upped the tempo and doubled the lead through Mahrez three minutes into the second half.

The Algeria international picked up the attack after a break by Wes Morgan and skipped over a challenge from Otamendi. He then wrong-footed Demichelis before firing a blistering shot past Hart.

City responded, with Kasper Schmeichel keeping out a powerful header from substitute Fernando before Huth headed in Leicester's third. The former Chelsea defender rose above Demichelis and Aleksandar Kolarov to head into the top corner from a corner.

That goal killed off all hope of a City revival and Leicester remained in control.

Aguero did pull one back by heading in a Bersant Celina cross three minutes from time but the game was already up for the hosts.