Gabriel Jesus struck twice in Manchester City’s 4-1 victory over Burnley at the Turf Moor to decrease the gap with table-toppers Liverpool to 8 points and keep their title hopes alive.
🔵 Double @gabrieljesus33 delight
🔵 Rodrigo worldie
🔵 @Mahrez22‘s 50th @premierleagueNot bad for a Tuesday night 😄
⚽️ #BURMCI #ManCity pic.twitter.com/Q5NAcTC9ka
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 4, 2019
Jesus opened the scoring in the 24th minutes and extended City’s lead to one more goal within minutes of the second half before Rodri and Riyad Mahrez’s spectacular effort made it four.
With the brace, the Brazilian also concluded his goal drought of five league matches. Speaking about his performance, City manager Pep Guardiola said that there was no doubt about his ability to fill the void created by Sergio Aguero’s injury.
“Of course it’s not easy [to replace Aguero] but the team doesn’t have doubts about him. As a striker sometimes you score, sometimes not. We need the quality of the players up front to make the difference,” Guardiola was seen speaking to Amazon Prime after the match.
Determined to stay in the title race, City knew anything short of a win would be a deterring factor for them. They had already dropped 13 points in the 14 games and looked nowhere near the team they were in their last two title-winning campaigns.
However, a late consolation goal from Burnley’s substitute Robbie Brady should have annoyed Guardiola to some extent. It has now been eight straight games across competitions that the Blues of Manchester have failed to keep a clean sheet.
In the other match of the day, 10-man Crystal Palace defeated Bournemouth 1-0, courtesy of a Jeffrey Schlupp strike in 76th minute. Palace’s Mamadou Sakho was sent off in the 19th minute after a reckless tackle.
The day also marked the debut of Amazon Prime in the English Premier League. The online streaming giant has a three-year deal to broadcast 20 matches every season in 2022.