Pep: City ready to pounce on any Liverpool lapse

MANCHESTER, England - Following a comfortable 3-0 win over Wolves on Monday, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said his squad is poised to pounce if Premier League leader Liverpool falters.

The victory moved City, which blew the title race wide open by beating Liverpool 2-1 on Jan 3, to within four points of Jurgen Klopp's Reds.

Two first-half goals from Gabriel Jesus, either side of a straight red card for Wolves' French defender Willy Boly, showed City has banished its shaky December form.

Guardiola was in no mood to analyze the standings and insisted he is interested only in his own team's performances.

"We can't 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 Liverpool does. All we can do is be there and maybe one day they fail. But if they don't lose, then they'll be champion.

"We've done incredible numbers after last season, but one team has done better than us so far. All we can do is be there until the end and the results will dictate who will win."

Two weeks into 2019, City has scored a remarkable 21 goals in four home games and has hit 99 in all competitions in the current campaign.

Jesus had scored just three times in his 16 league games coming into the new year but his two-goal performance against Nuno Espirito Santo's team continued his rich vein of recent form.

He scored once in the seven-goal FA Cup win over Rotherham and hit four in last week's 9-0 League Cup humiliation of Burton. The Brazilian now has seven goals in his past three outings, although City's task was made easier by Boly's 19th-minute sending-off.

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

The German's low cross was judged to perfection, as was Jesus'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 card soon after.

"It was quite a bad tackle but I'm fine," said Bernardo. "Yes, he did apologize at the end of the game. These things happen."

'Magician's ball'

With Wolves down to 10 men, Jesus' second of the evening, from a 39th-minute penalty, tightened the noose on Wolves.

Again, referee Craig Pawson appeared to have made the right decision as Raheem Sterling played a one-two only to be brought down by Ryan Bennett's clumsy challenge. Jesus took a stuttering run-up for his spot-kick, but there was nothing hesitant in his confident finish into the bottom right corner.

Kevin De Bruyne, surprisingly left on the bench after his angry reaction to being substituted in last week's thrashing of Burton, was brought on just after the hour.

It was de Bruyne's cross, following a 78th-minute short corner, that was deflected into his own net by Conor Coady.

"I don't have a magician's ball to discover when I'm going to lose points," said Guardiola.

"But I said to the players, 'Don't look at the calendar for the Liverpool games - forget about it,' because normally when this happens, in my experience, you lose your games and after that it's over."

Agence France - presse