Luke Ayling laments the one recurring weakness responsible for Leeds United's defeat to Manchester City

The Whites kept their title-chasing opponents at bay for just thirteen minutes on Saturday evening before Rodri opened the scoring for the visitors with a soft goal from a free-kick, claiming a free header to guide the ball home from Phil Foden's delivery.

Leeds took the game to the league leaders but couldn't equalise before half-time. Shortly after the interval, Nathan Ake deepened Leeds' woes with a close-range tap-in from a corner as the Whites' perennial struggles with set pieces came back to bite them again.

Jesse Marsch's side found no reply before Gabriel Jesus struck a third for City, with substitute Fernandinho burying the game by scoring with the final kick.

Ayling, who was acting captain following the last-minute injury concern for Whites skipper Liam Cooper, is disappointed that the pair of set pieces they conceded let down what was otherwise a good performance.

"We had a clear game plan and I think we stuck to it and did well at it and then set pieces has been our downfall for quite a lot of this season," he said in his post-match interview.

"We gave them one set piece in the first half, then a second one, and it's always hard then....

"The set piece goal was poor from us - we were probably a bit too high for it, maybe being a bit too brave. They score from it and then it's always a hard game when they go 1-0 up, because then you're chasing. We still had chances, we did alright, then get done by another set piece."

Relegation-threatened Leeds were the clear underdogs going into a match against a Manchester City side who are undefeated in seven Premier League games.

Though defeat hurt, Ayling is pleased with the way his side handled the match on what was always set to be a challenging evening.

"It might seem a bit funny coming in and saying this but I thought we did really well for long spells of the game," Ayling said.

"It was a good game plan. we're probably playing against the best team in the world so it was always going to be an uphill battle.

"We set up well, had chances and still got into some decent positions going forward so we weren't a flat back five - we still got our full backs quite high and you see toward the end, we've got Rapha playing right wing back, we've got Jack Harrison as left wing back so we're not just sitting in and hoping for the best.

"We stuck to our game plan in the first twenty minutes, we didn't start too well but we're still in the game, and then we started getting a few chances and started catching them on the counter.

"It felt like our press was really good, forcing them into some things that they don't usually do in games, so we were happy with that.

"Coming in at half time, we were positive, still thinking we could get something from the game. We still had a few chances but that shows the quality that they've got - us boys think we're still in the game then we still get beat 4-0, it's hard to take."

United's failure to pick up any points has allowed Burnley to overtake them in the table on goal difference, with Leeds dropping to 17th place.

With four games left to play, Leeds are five points clear of the relegation zone, with Everton set to play one of their games in hand against Chelsea on Sunday afternoon.

Ayling set a target for their remaining fixtures and claims United won't be disheartened by the City thumping.

"We got to score some goals and try and carve some results out," Ayling said.

"We've been on a great run of form. We played Man City today - a lot of teams have been beaten by them. Before that, we were unbeaten in five, picked up ten or eleven points.

"We've been playing well so we can't be down from this result - we actually played well, we were braver on the ball than we have been in the last few weeks, so we'll take that into next week."