Manchester City overcame Southampton 3-1 on Saturday to provisionally reclaim first place in the Premier League table.
De Bruyne scored for the first time in six games to put City ahead at the Etihad Stadium and went on to create goals for Fabian Delph and Aleksandar Kolarov, with Shane Long replying for Southampton.
But victory came at the cost of an injury to Sergio Aguero, who hobbled off in the second half, and both Leicester City and Manchester United will have designs on supplanting City when they meet later on Saturday.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini had seen his side dismantled 4-1 by Liverpool on their previous outing and he was forced to do without injured goalkeeper Joe Hart, who was replaced by Willy Caballero.
But the hosts went in front in the ninth minute when Raheem Sterling robbed Maya Yoshida and crossed for De Bruyne to tap home from close range.
De Bruyne’s corner in the 20th minute allowed Delph to crown his first league start for City with his first goal for the club, a 25-yard shot that deflected in off Virgil van Dijk.