MANCHESTER: 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 on Monday.

The 21-year-old 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 in the 19th minute.

Whether he can retain City’s sole striker spot ahead of club great Sergio Aguero, who started on the bench after a recent illness, remains to be seen but Jesus cannot be doing any more to impress his manager, Pep Guardiola.

“I know Sergio Aguero is an amazing player and helps me a lot,” Jesus said. “When Sergio plays he helps the team, and when I play I want to help as well. I play better now and to score goals is important to me.”

And having two in-form strikers can only boost City’s chances of reeling in Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool in the Premier League title race.

With Tottenham Hotspur losing on Sunday, it now looks a two-horse race to win the Premier League with Liverpool on 57 points and City on 53 from 22 games. 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, perhaps disappointed not to boost his side’s goals tally further, said “We were solid and didn’t give away many chances so it is three points to keep the pressure on the team at the top.”

The City manager was in no mood to analyse the table and insisted he is interested only in his own team’s performances.

“We cannot play the games against Liverpool, we cannot do anything about them,” said Guardiola.

“All we can do is win our games and be there. We’ve spoken to our players about it and the fact we cannot control what they can do. All we can do is be there and maybe one day they fail. But if they don’t lose, then they’ll be champions. All we can do is be there until the end and the results will dictate who will win.”

Jesus’ opener came in the 10th minute after a magnificent 40-yard pass from defender Aymeric Laporte exposed the Wolves defence and sent Leroy Sane sprinting down the left.

The German’s low cross was judged to perfection, as was Jesus’s run, as he slid in and steered the ball into an open goal.

Boly’s rash challenge, an out-of control, one-footed lunge at Bernardo Silva, may not have been malicious but was deserving of a red soon after.

With Wolves down to 10 men, Jesus’s second of the evening, from a 39th-minute penalty, made it hard to see Wolves forcing their way back and City got a third when Kevin De Bruyne’s cross, following a 78th-minute short corner that was deflected into his own goal by Conor Coady.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2019