De Bruyne masterclass sends City back to the top of the league
- De Bruyne scores four goals in 5-1 thrashing
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Manchester City go three points clear of Liverpool at the top of Premier League
Manchester City went into their game against Wolves without three of their starting defenders in Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias and John Stones.
This forced Pep Guardiola to play Fernandinho, a defensive midfielder, in the centre back role beside Aymeric Laporte.
City started the game with promise when De Bruyne scored only seven minutes into the game via a drilled shot from the edge of the box. Bernardo received the assist for his through ball past Coady.
Minutes later, Dendoncker equalised on the counter attack putting hope into Liverpool’s minds: if City drop points here they would be neck and neck in the title race.
Kevin De Bruyne seemed to be looking on fire against eighth place with another goal coming in the 16th minute with a rebound off of the unlucky Jose Sa, right into the path of De Bruyne who slotted it into the top corner.
Becoming the second player after Harry Kane to score a hattrick with their weak foot, De Bruyne scored for the third time with a goal from the edge of the box curved into the bottom left corner of the net.
He celebrated giving a little teaser to the City fans with an Erling Haaland celebration after City announced they had agreed terms with Dortmund for the signing of the promising 21 year old.
The first half ended with City comfortably in control 3-1 up with Kevin De Bruyne the definite star. The second half resumed with no changes.
During the 48th minute Sterling slotted the ball into the net to make it four for the champions. However, VAR ruled the goal out for offside keeping the game at 3-1.
De Bruyne made it 4-1 in the 60th minute, with all goals for the blues coming from the man who seemed unplayable.
Just one minute later, Laporte, City’s main centre back now that Dias and Stones are out, seemed to go off with a nasty knee injury picked up during a 50/50 tackle with a Wolves player.
As the game looked to be over, in the 84th minute an attack orchestrated by De Bruyne lead to a Raheem Sterling tap-in giving him 17 goals in all competitions this season for the England star.
The game ended 5-1 to the leaders of the Premier League making it seemingly impossible for Liverpool to get back to the top of the league.
A few local students gave their thoughts on this game in their podcast ‘Power Pitches’.