Chest perfect as Sane fires up City
JURGEN KLOPP can run and run as much as he likes. There isn’t anybody who is going to catch Manchester City this season.
The Liverpool manager’s over-exuberant celebrations after the late winner in the Merseyside derby at Anfield on Sunday showed just how much it means to him to keep in the title race with Pep Guardiola.
Meanwhile the Manchester City manager just keeps strolling on.
Goals from Leroy Sane and man-of-the-match Riyad Mahrez either side of the break effectively bagged yet another three points for the defending champions.
It was more than enough for everybody but Guardiola himself, who threw a bottle down to the ground when another effort from Mahrez looped just wide of the post minutes later – just one small bottle, mind, not the whole crate.
He would have been even more annoyed to see that the ball had deflected off the outstretched hand of Christian Kabasele.
It is that perfectionism from the City manager that allows him to steamroller over all these molehills rather than make a mountain of them.
That attention to detail will be hammered home to his players after Watford scored a late comeback goal to threaten City’s superiority briefly. But, importantly, not two.
When you are playing Manchester City you have to make every opportunity count otherwise they will leap on your every mistake.
Roberto Pereyra nearly learned both halves of that lesson in the same minute.
First, in a rare Watford sortie into the City penalty area, he tried a curling shot having cleverly landed Vincent Kompany on his backside with a pull-back. It flew harmlessly wide.
Then his loose cross-field ball was leaped on by Gabriel Jesus, who covered the distance from half-way line to area in a blink of an eye.
He lifted the ball over Ben Foster’s body only for the former England goalkeeper’s giant fist to swipe it away.
In the 18th minute Foster had to shut down three City players in succession as Mahrez, Bernardo Silva and David Silva took turns in vain to find a way past him. Then again, Ederson at the other end was proving just as resolute as another one of those precious Watford chances was squandered.
Skipper Troy Deeney could not believe his luck when the ball looped to him eight yards from goal with just the City keeper to beat but his sidefooted effort was too central and dealt with by an outflung boot. Sure enough, the punishment finally came five minutes before the break.
David Silva appeared to have spared Watford again by bungling a shot from two yards.
But when the ball broke out wide from Foster’s block, it was swung back in with such precision from Mahrez that Sane could do the honours at the far post from close range with his chest.
If there were any doubts the second half was only going to go one way, they lasted just
six minutes. A bobbling cross from Jesus reached Mahrez at the far post and his left foot drilled in his fourth goal at what has become a very profitable ground for him.
Any injustice over failing to get a penalty from the Kabasele handball incident would have been wiped out had Jesus scored from a clearly-offside position in the 68th minute.
Somehow, though, his header was high and wide and he was equally wasteful a few minutes later when another sublime pass from Mahrez put him through again.
It meant that instead of being killed off completely, Watford managed to keep pulses racing to the bitter end – not least when Abdoulaye Doucoure forced the ball over the line after some frantic City defending undid all their calm dominance.
But when the final blew – Guardiola shook the hands of opposite number Javi Gracia