Manchester City did precisely what they needed to do: beat Watford and give Liverpool 24 hours to contemplate a four-point deficit before the Merseyside derby.
If the tussle between two supreme sides is the title race’s headline story, this game’s subplot featured a first Premier League hat-trick from Gabriel Jesus – he added a fourth – who may depart in the close season. The 25-year-old has a year remaining on his contract and is a candidate to leave, especially as – in contrast to this demolition job – he has never been a prolific marksman for City.
Pep Guardiola brushed off speculation about his future. “Gabriel is a player of ours. I don’t know what’s going to happen but Gabriel doesn’t need a performance like today for us to know what he can do. Nobody knows what will happen now and I don’t care – there is less than one month to go [until the season ends].”
That is something for the summer. The present is all about how City ticked off another match in their tilt at defending the championship for a second time under Guardiola: they have five games left and remain in pole position to do so.
The irrepressible Jesus required four minutes to open proceedings. João Cancelo swept a cross in that went over to his fellow full-back, Oleksandr Zinchenko, on the left. The Ukrainian drilled the ball along the turf, Jesus stuck a leg out and it was 1-0.
The early strike provoked a question: could Watford’s last visit here, in September 2019, when they were drubbed 8-0, find an unwanted echo? City hunted for more. Kevin De Bruyne swung in a pair of corners that had those in green in disarray but in a topsy-turvy phase the champions were next to be put under pressure. Cancelo overdribbled and lost the ball, allowing Emmanuel Dennis to race towards Ederson before Zinchenko made a second telling intervention, executing a sliding tackle that expertly retrieved the ball.
De Bruyne’s late-season form has seen the near-peerless midfielder at his very best. The latest illustration was a dipping parabola that begged for Jesus to head home, which he did with aplomb.
City could have been rampant from this juncture but fell asleep. Hassane Kamara initiated a move he would finish, taking a ball from Dennis that punched a hole in the home defence after Rúben Dias was dragged out wide on the left. When Kamara struck, Guardiola did the same to the turf in the technical area, hitting the grass with a fist.
City were ragged but their emotions took an upswing. The referee, Kevin Friend, deserves credit for not blowing when De Bruyne went down injured as it allowed Jesus to find Rodri near where the Belgian lay. The Spaniard chested the ball down and fired in a sweet volley. “An unstoppable 25-yarder,” said Roy Hodgson, Watford’s manager.
If Guardiola gave a pep talk at half-time it worked instantly: Jesus, the contest’s star turn, claimed and scored a penalty four minutes after the break. He ran into the area, Kamara failed to track him, and a Ben Foster boot felled the Brazilian.
Up he stepped to secure his treble, having previously performed the feat against Shakhtar Donetsk and Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League.
It became a quadruple via a classic free-flowing City move: Sterling twisted and found Jack Grealish. He fed Jesus who in turn sent De Bruyne away down the right before smashing home the return.
Jesus said: “It’s amazing. Sometimes you play so well and don’t score and sometimes it is like this and you score all the chances you have. I’m happy it was my day and I’m very happy not just because of the goals but that we got the three points.
“We did our job. Now is the best moment of the season. When you decide the games and win the trophies.”
Watford are seven points from safety with a possible 15 to play for. “I’m not prepared to accept we are relegated until we are,” Hodgson said. “I’ve have no assurances at all – if they [the owners] think the situation can be changed by getting rid of me and Ray [Lewington, his No 2] that’s up to them – I’ve never asked for any assurances.”
