A day after reports of Gabriel Jesus’ potential move to Arsenal surfaced, the Brazilian showed just how good he is for the title-chasing Manchester City as he scored four goals in the 5-1 dismantling of Norwich City at Etihad Stadium.Friday: Multiple reports that Gabriel Jesus is not in Pep’s plans and will leave City this summerSaturday: Gabriel Jesus bags a hat-trick + an assist in 48 minutes😤 pic.twitter.com/I3Dcqtlde9— B/R Football (@brfootball) April 23, 2022 The Sky Blues were taking no prisoners as they raced into an early lead, with Gabriel Jesus tucking in a pass from Oleksandr Zinchenko. The Brazilian doubled the lead after captain Kevin De Bruyne found him with a delightfully precise cross on 23 minutes.The visitors were pinned back nearly all the time, but they showed that they can still be exciting going forward. Hassane Kamara scored with a great shot to make it 2-1, but that was just about all they could do. Once again, their poor defence was their undoing and the number one cause of their impending relegation.7 – There have been seven Premier League goals scored by Brazilian players today, the joint-most ever by players from a single non-English nation in one day in the competition’s history (also 7 by French, Jan 10th 2004 & Spanish, Dec 8th 2012). Samba. pic.twitter.com/L0iRjstmKk— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 23, 2022 Pep Guardiola’s team didn’t look back despite the setback and continued to attack. Just six minutes after Kamara’s strike, Jesus proved the provider for Rodri, who hammered in an unstoppable hit to restore a two-goal lead for the reigning champions of England.Jesus completed his first hat-trick for the Citizens from the penalty spot, but he wasn’t going to stop. Once again, De Bruyne delivered an assist that every forward in the world would love to receive and Jesus had an easy task of finding the net from close range to make it 5-1 less than ten minutes into the second half. It was a long, long day for the Hornets and their veteran manager Roy Hodgson.Guardiola made quite a few changes to his team as Oleksander Zinchenko, Ruben Dias, Fernandinho, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish all came in for Nathan Ake, John Stones, Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva. The introduction of Brazilian Jesus was a particularly inspired move by the Sky Blues coach!The victory sees Manchester City open up a four-point lead at the top of the table ahead of Liverpool. The Reds could slash that deficit to just a single point if they triumph in the Merseyside Derby on Sunday. The race is in full swing!Newcastle United were also praising their Brazilian contingent on their trip to relegation-zone dwellers Norwich City. Joelington scored two well-taken goals on the day of his 100th Premier League appearance before January signing Bruno Guimaraes continued his rich vein of form with an expertly-taken chip over the Magpies’ former goalkeeper Tim Krul.PREMIER LEAGUE – ROUND 34SaturdayArsenal – Man.Utd. 3-1 (2-1)/Tavares 3, Saka 32 pen, Xhaka 71 – Ronaldo 34/Leicester – Aston Villa 0-0 Man.City – Watford 5-1 (3-1)/Jesus 4, 23, 49 pen, 53, Rodri 34 – Kamara 28/Norwich – Newcastle 0-3 (0-2)/Joelinton 35, 41, Guimaraes 49/19:30: (4.10) Brentford (3.50) Tottenham (2.00)Sunday16:00: (2.30) Brighton (3.25) Southampton (3.50)16:00: (2.90) Burnley (2.90) Wolverhampton (2.75)16:00: (1.60) Chelsea (4.00) West Ham (6.50)18:30: (1.22) Liverpool (7.00) Everton (15.0)Monday22:00: (2.10) Crystal Palace (3.50) Leeds (3.80)***odds are subject to change***
