De Bruyne on fire as City hit five past Wolves
1 Manchester City 5
KEVIN De Bruyne scored four goals as Manchester City restored a threepoint lead at the Premier League summit with a 5-1 win at Wolves.
The playmaker rattled in a left-footed hat-trick inside the opening 24 minutes and added another on the hour as City demonstrated the firepower they have even before Erling Haaland arrives next season.
City’s victory was also an emphatic response to title rivals Liverpool’s success over Aston Villa the previous night and tightened their grip on the title race with just two games to play.
The De Bruyne show was briefly interrupted by a Leander Dendoncker strike early on but a late Raheem Sterling tap-in ensured they would score five for a second successive game.
With the extra insurance of a goal difference now plus seven better than their Merseyside rivals, City are closing in on their fourth title in five seasons.
The only downside was the loss of Aymeric Laporte in the second half, joining fellow defenders John Stones, Ruben Dias and Kyle Walker on the sidelines.
Having already deployed Fernandinho as a makeshift centre-back and with Nathan
Ake having not been fit enough to start, manager
Pep Guardiola will anxiously await updates on the Spain international’s condition.
Wolves, whose manager Bruno Lage was missing for a second successive game after testing positive for Covid-19, were overrun. De Bruyne almost set up a goal within the opening moments but Phil Foden was inches away from connecting with his low ball.
His opening goal came after seven minutes as Wolves
goalkeeper Jose Sa invited more pressure with a poor clearance.
Bernardo Silva brought the ball under control and slipped De Bruyne in on goal with a fine through-ball. De Bruyne made no mistake as he drilled a low shot past Sa.
Yet for all their brilliance in attack, City did look vulnerable in the absence of Stones and Dias.
Their weaknesses were exposed just four minutes later by a swift Wolves counterattack. Raul Jimenez chested down a clearance before pushing forward and releasing Pedro Neto, who raced into the area and squared for Dendoncker to tuck home – but the celebrations were short-lived.
City were back in front just four minutes later. This time De Bruyne was looking to play in Sterling but Sa came out to intercept. The ball rolled back to De Bruyne and he rifled back past the keeper with the aid of a deflection.
He went on to add an extra stamp of class by completing his hat-trick soon after.
His third was all his own work as he cut in from the right following a City throw-in and curled a superb left-foot shot around Sa from the edge of the area. There were further penalty shouts at either end. First Sterling went down and then Wolves appealed for handball against Fernandinho from their subsequent quick counter. Neither were given and Sterling was also denied by an offside flag after putting the ball in the net early in the second half.
De Bruyne grabbed his fourth on the hour after leading another break and finding Foden in the area. He looked inside for Sterling but his pass took a ricochet and fell kindly for De Bruyne to score.
De Bruyne was doing wonders for City’s goal difference but Laporte’s injury, after a collision with Jimenez, did temper their joy slightly.
Yet City continued to press and hit the post through Foden before Sterling tapped in their fifth late on.