Kevin De Bruyne promises no let-up from Manchester City after his four-goal haul tames Wolves
- Nick Walsh
- 11 May 2022
Kevin De Bruyne stole the show with four goals as Manchester City thumped Wolves 5-1 at Molineux - then urged his team-mates to finish the job of defending their Premier League title.
The influential Belgium playmaker took his tally to 15 goals in the top flight from 23 starts so far to become City's leading goalscorer in the top flight this season.
Raheem Sterling completed the rout six minutes from time to ensure Pep Guardiola's defending champions now only need four points from their remaining two games to finish above quadruple-chasers Liverpool and win a fourth domestic title in five seasons.
"Yeah, pretty nice. When you score four goals it is always something special. It should have been five to be honest but I think we played well," the Belgium star told Sky Sports.
Oh, what a night! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/WJ0cR5kKRl
— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 11, 2022
"We could have scored even more and to do that against a Wolves team who are defensively sound was really impressive."
De Bruyne opened the scoring on seven minutes when he collected Bernardo Silva's pass to slot home.
His joy was short-lived as Leander Dendoncker swept past Ederson four minutes later to cap a rapid counter-attack by the hosts.
De Bruyne put City back ahead on 16 minutes when he smashed in a rebound after Jose Sa beat Sterling to his initial pass.
He completed his first-ever hat-trick for the visitorsn - and first treble since 2011 - when he sent a left-footed curling effort from the edge of the area into the bottom corner.
🥇 @ManCity have become the first team in English top-flight history to win five consecutive league matches by a margin of at least three goals 📜#WOLMCI pic.twitter.com/gzbqFe0cni
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 11, 2022
De Bruyne made sure of his four-goal haul bang on the hour-mark when he met a deflected Phil Foden cross to fire home with his right foot.
Foden somehow hit the post as City turned on the style before Sterling got in on the act with a simple tap-in for his 13th in the Premier League this season.
Next up for Guardiola's league leaders is a tricky away test against West Ham at the London Stadium on Sunday.
PEP 💬 Two weeks left, it was a brilliant performance from all the players. All of them. They implemented our movement perfectly and made good runs for the people upfront. We were good. It’s an important victory. #ManCity pic.twitter.com/b2U4GOhxWp
— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 11, 2022
City have a goal difference of +72 compared to Liverpool's 65 so could effectively seal the title against David Moyes' men this weekend.
"It depends on what happens in the next two games," de Bruyne said.
"Obviously we know at the moment we have a little bit of an advantage with goal difference but even seven with Liverpool, that can happen because goal difference will only work if we lose a game.
PEP 💬 Some muscular problems for Fernandinho and it will be difficult for Sunday. Aymeric had a tough knock on his knee and we have just four days so we will see how they recover for Sunday.#ManCity
— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 11, 2022
"That is already minus one as a minimum so I think we need to concentrate on West Ham, their last game at home, so we need to recover and be ready (for Sunday)."
