Gabriel Jesus grabs late winner as City beats Swansea 2-1
Gabriel Jesus showed why he is keeping Sergio Aguero out of Manchester City’s team, scoring twice - including an injury-time winner - in a 2-1 victory over relegation-threatened Swansea in the Premier League yesterday.
Having volleyed City ahead in the 11th minute, the 19-year-old Brazil international rescued three points for his new side by tapping in from close range in the second minute of stoppage time after his initial header was only parried out by goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.
That’s three goals in two league starts for Gabriel Jesus since he completed his move from Palmeiras last month and the striker, who again started ahead of Aguero, is rapidly becoming a new darling of Etihad Stadium.
Gylfi Sigurdsson’s 82ndminute equaliser capped an impressive recovery from Swansea after a one-sided first half, and threatened to take two points off City in its quest for a top-four finish to qualify for the Champions League. As it was, Gabriel Jesus ensured City climbed above Liverpool and Arsenal into third place.
Guardiola appears settled on his first-choice front line of Gabriel Jesus, Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling, and that spells bad news for Aguero - for so long City’s top striker.
There have been potential excuses for leaving Aguero out in previous matches - tiredness after international duty, tactical reasons and the fact he was returning from injury, for example - but this omission was most telling. For now, Guardiola is putting his faith in Gabriel Jesus and it’s easy to see why on this evidence.
Guardiola likes his striker to be hard-working, constantly pressing defenders and on the move, and the Brazilian was exactly that on the rare times City didn’t have possession. He’s already chipping in with goals, too, including this crucial winner to deny Swansea a point in the Welsh club’s relegation fight.
Following up his close-range strike in the 4-0 win over West Ham on Wednesday, Gabriel Jesus put City ahead when he was quickest to react after the ball lopped up off Sterling from David Silva’s cross from the left. He made no mistake with a poked volley from the edge of the six-yard box.
City was so dominant in the first half that no Swansea player touched the ball in the home team’s box before halftime. Yaya Toure ran the midfield, Sterling and Sane were menacing on the wing, and Gabriel Jesus could easily have had a hat trick in that time.
The second half was different as Swansea saw more of the ball. Gylfi Sigurdsson had a free kick tipped wide by Willy Caballero again picked ahead of Claudio Bravo - with the help of the post and an unmarked Alfie Mawson headed wide from a corner.
Sigurdsson’s goal came when he found space at the edge of City’s area for the first time all match. The Iceland international is lethal from that range and his low, left-footed shot flew past Caballero.
Aguero came on but Gabriel Jesus wasn’t being upstaged, meeting Silva’s right-wing cross with a header and then converting the rebound as Fabianski failed to gather.
Man United beats struggling champion Leicester 3-0
Manchester United scored three goals in an eight-minute period either side of halftime to beat Leicester 3-0 yesterday and leave the struggling champions just one point above the Premier League’s relegation zone.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan put United ahead in the 42nd minute before Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored 88 seconds later, for his 15th league goal of the season.
Juan Mata grabbed the third goal in the 49th minute after a one-two with Mkhitaryan, sealing a win that lifted United to within two points of the Champions League qualification positions.
Five points separates secondplaced Tottenham and sixthplaced United.
It was the 13th loss in 24 games of Leicester’s woeful title defence. The champions are 16th in the 20-team league, one point above 18th-placed Hull.
Leicester visits 17th-placed Swansea next weekend.
The last defending champion to be relegated the following season was Manchester City in the 1937-38 season.
P W D L F A Pts Chelsea 24 19 2 3 51 17 59 Tottenham 24 14 8 2 46 16 50 Man City 24 15 4 5 49 29 49 Arsenal 24 14 5 5 52 28 47 Liverpool 24 13 7 4 52 30 46 Man United 24 12 9 3 36 21 45 Everton 24 11 7 6 40 27 40 West Brom 24 10 6 8 32 29 36 West Ham 24 9 4 11 32 41 31 Watford 24 8 6 10 29 40 30 Stoke City 24 7 8 9 29 36 29 Burnley 24 9 2 13 26 35 29 Southampton 24 7 6 11 24 31 27 Bournemouth 24 7 5 12 35 47 26 M’brough 24 4 9 11 19 27 21 Leicester 24 5 6 13 24 41 21 Swansea 24 6 3 15 29 54 21 Hull City 24 5 5 14 22 47 20 Crystal Palace 24 5 4 15 32 45 19 Sunderland 24 5 4 15 24 42 19
Championship
Yesterday Huddersfield Town-Leeds U .............. 2-1 Brentford-Brighton ........................... 3-3
Standings
P W D L F A Pts Newcastle U 29 20 2 7 57 23 62 Brighton 29 18 7 4 47 24 61 Reading 30 17 5 8 44 39 56 Huddersfield 29 17 4 8 37 32 55 Leeds 30 17 3 10 42 30 54 Sheffield Wed 29 14 7 8 34 28 49 Norwich 29 14 4 11 48 40 46 Derby 29 13 7 9 30 22 46 Barnsley 30 13 6 11 48 44 45 Fulham 29 11 10 8 46 33 43 Preston 30 11 9 10 38 37 42 Birmingham 30 10 10 10 32 39 40 Brentford 29 10 7 12 40 38 37 Aston Villa 29 8 12 9 29 32 36 Nottingham 30 10 6 14 42 48 36 Ipswich 30 9 9 12 31 39 36 Cardiff 30 10 6 14 34 44 36 Wolves 29 9 8 12 38 40 35 QPR 30 9 7 14 29 42 34 Bristol City 29 9 4 16 38 41 31 Burton 30 8 7 15 30 41 31 Blackburn 29 7 7 15 34 46 28 Wigan 28 6 7 15 24 33 25 Rotherham 30 4 4 22 27 64 16
SCOTLAND
Premier League
Yesterday St Johnstone-Celtic ........................... 2-5