A week after Manchester City’s painful surrender in Madrid, the reaction was pretty awesome. After Kevin De Bruyne scored his fourth goal and Manchester City’s, Pep Guardiola jumped into the arms of his assistant Rodolfo Borrell. By this point, Guardiola had already shed the mammoth black puffer coat and gloves long since removed to retain her Premier League crown.
De Bruyne’s unparalleled performance helped restore City’s three-point lead over Liverpool at the top and now there are just two hurdles between them and a fourth league title in five seasons. Raheem Sterling added a fifth goal six minutes from time but it was De Bruyne who borrowed Erling Haaland’s thoughtful celebration as he scored a 17-minute hat-trick in the first half that fueled that spectacular and on-target defeat for Wolves.
Technically, City need four points from away at West Ham and home to Aston Villa to get the job done, but they effectively have an extra point due to their superior goal difference: Liverpool need to pick up a seven-goal deficit as well as City’s three – Point buffer to win the title.
Even with Fernandinho and Aymeric Laporte picking up injuries to add to Guardiola’s defensive headache, it’s difficult to see City throwing it away from here. They have scored 22 goals in their five league games since being eliminated from the FA Cup by Liverpool last month. Imagine how many they could meet when Haaland is in the building.
At the end of the game, De Bruyne trotted over to referee Martin Atkinson to collect the match point. Given the mood in which he started here, flicking a brilliant ball across the box that was a split second too quick for Phil Foden to convert with barely a minute on the clock, perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise that he scored his first City hat-trick in 24 minutes, the third fastest since the start of a game in Premier League history.
His third was the best choice. It was a City throw-in. Joao Cancelo located Sterling, who was being challenged by Rayan Ait-Nouri, and when the ball flew free, De Bruyne happily took the baton, took a few purposeful steps and carefully nudged the ball into a shooting position before flicking it into the bottom corner shot with his supposedly weaker left foot. Then came the celebration, certainly a nod to City’s new superstar. Welcome to Manchester.
De Bruyne made things work at the end of a typically calculated City attack. Bernardo Silva, acting as a false 9 through the middle, let De Bruyne slip through and he chipped a low finish into the far corner. Guardiola clenched both fists.
Pep Guardiola jumps into the arms of his assistant Rodolfo Borrell after Kevin De Bruyne’s fourth goal. Photo: Peter Powell/ReutersIt was the perfect start but Wolves responded four minutes later when Leander Dendoncker completed a fine counterattack. Raul Jimenez drove forward from the middle before spreading the ball wide. City’s makeshift backline didn’t cover themselves in glory. 37-year-old Fernandinho, backing up Laporte at centre-back, couldn’t stop Jimenez from scoring Pedro Neto and focused on Dendoncker to finish him off coolly.
It would have been a pleasant sight for Bruno Lage, watching along with his brother and assistant Luis Nascimento and goalkeeping coach Tony Roberts a few miles away at Wolves’ training base, while the trio continued to test positive for Covid-19. Guardiola retired to the dugout and drank some water. He didn’t need to fret.
City regained the lead when the purring De Bruyne leathered in from close range after Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa presented him with the ball on a plate after failing to process his clever pass for Sterling. Wolves struggled to break City’s endless chain and De Bruyne completed his hat-trick without breaking a sweat.
What’s special about De Bruyne is that he makes everything look so simple, just natural. With 10 minutes left in the first half, the game all but over, he went after the ball on a one-man mission, ready to hunt down the defense in case Wolves slipped.
There was a fear or two – Zinchenko and Fernandinho were grateful to have the referee on their side after each half’s struggles in the penalty area, while Laporte ran back to steal the ball when Jimenez charged Ederson – but this was it an otherwise flawless performance by City, all in white.
Inevitably, it was De Bruyne who scored City’s fourth. Foden’s cross forced a panicked clearance from Ait-Nouri and De Bruyne was there to intervene. Ederson made a fingertip parry to deny Jimenez just after Foden shook a post, but Sterling tapped in a fifth to sentence Wolves to a fourth loss in five matches. There’s just no letting up for City in this race.