May 11, (THEWILL) –Â Manchester City took a huge stride towards the Premier League title with a 5-1 win over Wolves at Molineux on Wednesday night, thanks to four-goal hero Kevin De Bruyne.
Pep Guardiola’s side celebrated his 350th game in charge by regaining their three-point advantage at the top of the table after Liverpool drew level with them following their 2-1 victory over Aston Villa on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Leander Dendoncker gave the league leaders a worry with an early equaliser, but it was his countrymen De Bruyne who shone above all else to lead his side to a resounding victory, scoring four goals and terrorising a Wolves defence that is normally resolute in the early parts of games.
The hosts, whose manager Bruno Lage was once again away from the sideline due to COVID-19, were on record as the strongest defence in the first 15 minutes of Premier League ties, but were down 1-0 after just seven minutes.
Bernardo Silva and De Bruyne linked brilliantly down the left channel, with the Portuguese sliding the ball into his colleague’s path before the Belgian slotted the ball into Jose Sa’s bottom corner.
The advantage did not last long, though, as the hosts countered brilliantly to equalise just four minutes later. Raul Jimenez released Pedro Neto outside the backline, and the striker picked up Dendoncker, who sped into the box and hammered the ball past Ederson.
Maintaining the tense tone of the first half, Guardiola’s side stayed upbeat and proceeded to dominate, deservedly taking a two-goal lead by the 24th minute thanks to two more De Bruyne strikes.
In the 16th minute, the midfield maestro seized on Sa’s blunder to slam the ball into the roof of the net by a deflection from the Wolves goalkeeper, and eight minutes later, he completed his first hat-trick in Manchester City colours.
Picking up the ball wide on the left, the outstanding number 17 again raced inside before firing a rasping left-footed effort into the back of the net from 20 yards out, while remaining calm in his celebration.
De Bruyne’s hat-trick in under 24 minutes made his the third fastest hattrick record in Premier League history, after only Sadio Mane’s 16-minute hat-trick against Aston Villa in May 2015 and Dwight Yorke’s February 2001 hat-trick against Arsenal in 22 minutes.
The visitors’ continuing control of the game did not result in a fourth goal in the first period, but it appeared that they had struck one barely three minutes after play resumed. After rushing onto a Joao Cancelo pass and cleanly putting the ball home, Raheem Sterling’s celebrations were stopped short by the linesman’s flag.
Guardiola’s players continued to retain the ball with customary authority and ultimately wore Wolves down to score the fourth just before the hour mark.
Following putting Phil Foden through into the penalty area, De Bruyne continued his forward move and was rewarded when the ball sat up perfectly for him after a nick from a Wolves defender, allowing him to delicately caress his strike into the bottom corner.
As always, City were not content with four goals. Foden struck the post and denied De Bruyne an assist to go with his four goals, making the visitors wait until the 84th minute to add to their woes.
Sterling claimed an easy tap-in from Cancelo full-deflected back’s hit across the face of goal after a quick move involving some slick play between Jack Grealish and the Portuguese down the right side.
There was still time for De Bruyne to blast the ball against Sa’s post for a fifth goal of the night, but City appeared pleased to settle for a 5-1 win that puts them three points ahead of Jurgen Klopp’s Reds with two games remaining.
That win was huge in terms of both margin and significance. City moved three points clear of Liverpool with two games remaining, and have added four goals to an already healthy goal difference of +72, which is seven points higher than Liverpool’s +65.
Wolves will need a slight miracle to qualify for European competition, but City’s title defence appears to be nearing completion.
City became the first club in English top-flight history to win five straight league games by a margin of at least three goals, making it a game of his statistics and records. City also became the first side in the Premier League since Liverpool 5-2 Everton in December 2019 to have five or more shots on target and score on all of them.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
