Daily News

Man City close gap on Reds

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GABRIEL Jesus took his tally to seven goals in three games with a double as Manchester City beat 10-man Wolverhamp­ton Wanderers 3-0 to cut Premier League leaders Liverpool’s advantage to four points last night.

The Brazilian tapped in after 10 minutes and struck again from the penalty spot before the break, after Wolves had been reduced to 10 men as Willy Boly was shown a straight red card.

After back-to-back league defeats during the Christmas fixtures, City have now won five matches in a row in all competitio­ns, racking up 24 goals, and look primed to give chase to Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool.

With Tottenham Hotspur losing on Sunday, it now looks like a twohorse race to win the Premier League with Liverpool on 57 points and City on 53 from 22 games. Third-placed Tottenham have 48.

“We have played a lot of time with 10 against 11 and we should be more aggressive in our attacking play, but we have a lot of matches in our minds and our legs,” City manager Pep Guardiola said.

“We were solid and didn’t give away many chances.”

City, who have now scored 99 goals in all competitio­ns this season, knew only victory would suffice after Liverpool’s weekend win at Brighton & Hove Albion, and they needed only 10 minutes to go ahead at the Etihad Stadium. Aymeric Laporte gave a superb pass to release Leroy Sane down the left channel and his cross was perfect for Jesus to score with a simple finish in front of goal.

What was already a tough assignment for Wolves became a seemingly impossible one nine minutes later when Boly launched into a tackle on Bernardo Silva and won the ball, but also left the City midfielder rolling around with his follow through.

Wolves had a rare breakaway and perhaps should have equalised when Raul Jimenez burst forward and played in Jonathan Castro Otto, who just failed to pick out the unmarked Jota when a shot at goal would have been a better option.

Soon afterwards at the other end Raheem Sterling was sent sprawling in the area by Ryan Bennett. Jesus converted the penalty and there was no way back for Wolves.

Wolves were diligent in defence after the break, although they did concede again when substitute Kevin de Bruyne whipped in a cross that glanced in off Wolves’ Conor Coady.

City racked up 870 passes to the 271 of Wolves and such was their control that keeper Ederson joined in upfield during one passage of play in the second half.

Wolves remain in 11th spot and boss Nuno Espirito Santo had no complaints, agreeing with the decision to send off Boly.

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