Manchester City have moved ahead in the championship race thanks to an outstanding Gabriel Jesus – the attacker added four goals in a 5-1 win over Watford.
Manchester City were determined to go ahead in the title race and started accordingly against second-bottom Watford FC. After just four minutes, the Citizens, who were spared several regulars such as Gündogan, were rewarded for their superiority and broke down the Watford defence for the first time: Gabriel Jesus only had to keep his foot down after a perfect cross from Zinchenko.
With the lead behind them, Guardiola’s team pressed for the next goal, but was lucky that Dennis slowed down on a counterattack (13th). Despite their enormous superiority (ManCity had more than 80 per cent possession at one point), the home fans had to wait until the 23rd minute before they could celebrate Gabriel Jesus again. This time the Brazilian nodded De Bruyne’s cross into the net.
Kamara briefly creates suspense
The game seemed to be going the expected way until Kamara suddenly appeared in the opponent’s sixteen and brought Watford back into the game – Ederson did not look good with the left-back’s shot (28.).
However, hopes of a possible point were quickly extinguished again: Rodri hammered the ball into the top left corner from distance and thus restored the old distance (34th). Sterling then shot the ball over the goal from a promising position (37th) and just before the break he wasted the ball in the penalty area (45th +1), so the team went into the break with a 3:1 lead.
Gabriel Jesus with two goals before and after the break
Gabriel Jesus proved more efficient than his teammate shortly after the restart: although Watford had kicked off, the Brazilian was brought down in the box by Foster eleven seconds into the second period – the fouled man himself converting the penalty kick (49th).
His hunger for goals was not yet satisfied. After a one-two with De Bruyne, the attacker, who has only scored three Premier League goals this season, increased the lead to 5:1 (53.). He became the first player to score four goals in a Premier League game since September 2020, when Son scored four times for Tottenham against Southampton.
City take tempo out in closing stages
The Citizens then took it easy and Guardiola made a few changes ahead of the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid. However, there was still a chance for another goal on both sides: Joao Pedro headed next to the goal (83rd) and Grealish’s shot was too harmless (87th), so the score remained 5-1 until the end.
With the win, the Citizens put pressure on Liverpool FC, who host Everton FC in the Merseyside derby tomorrow. Currently, the lead over LFC is four points. City are back in action in the Champions League on Tuesday: Real Madrid visit the Etihad Stadium (9pm). Watford continue their campaign on Saturday at home to Burnley FC (4pm).
