Manchester City went three points clear at the top of the Premier League with a masterclass of a performance against Wolves inspired by talisman Kevin De Bruyne.
Having watched Liverpool edge out Aston Villa on Tuesday night, Pep Guardiola’s side knew that they needed to win to keep the gap to Jurgen Klopp’s side, and their Belgian wizard ensured that they did just that, grabbing 4 goals as he helped his side to a 5-1 win.
That will settle Manchester City fans’ nerves! ?
Kevin De Bruyne opens the scoring with a calm finish early on at Molineux! pic.twitter.com/yaUYEiCfnP
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 11, 2022
De Bruyne opened the scoring after just 3 minutes, before Leandro Dendonker levelled the scoring and put the cat among the pigeons. It was not to be for long, however, as the Belgian hit back with another two goals to complete a hat-trick in just 24 minutes.
He added a fourth midway through the second half, before Raheem Sterling put yet more gloss on the scoreline by firing low beyond a helpless Jose Sa. However, the night was all about De Bruyne.
Player Ratings
Wolves
Jose Sa – 5
Could do nothing about the goals.
Jonny Otto – 3
Had a torrid time on the right side of the Wolves defence as City ran riot.
Connor Coady – 4
Battered by the relentless Manchester City. Would have preferred a man to mark rather than the shifting front line.
Willy Boly – 4
A poor night for the veteran defender.
Chiquinho – 7
Wolves’ brightest player, the youngster oozed confidence and gave Zinchenko a torrid evening.
Ruben Neves – 5
Was run rings around by the Manchester City midfielder.
Leandro Dendonker – 6
Handed Wolves life in the opening minutes by firing home an equaliser, but then found himself on the end of a hammering.
Joao Moutinho – 5
Run ragged by the energetic Silva and De Bruyne.
Rayan Ait-Nouri – 5
More used to attacking than defending, he was as grateful to hear the final whistle as his teammates.
Pedro Neto – 5
Still struggling to find any sort of form after his horrific injury last season.
Raul Jimenez – 7
Got in behind Manchester City on occasion but could not convert it into chances.
Substitutes
Hwang Hee-Chan – 4
Hardly touched the ball.
Francisco Trincao – 4
Like Hwang, saw almost none of the ball.
Conor Cundle – N/A
Was not on the pitch long enough to make an impact.
Manchester City
Ederson – 6
Made one brilliant save from an offside Connor Coady, but will feel he could have done better for the Wolves goal. Strong with his feet as always.
Joao Cancelo – 6
A quiet night for Cancelo, but he still had enough legs to come up with a late assist for Raheem Sterling.
Fernandinho – 5
The veteran midfielder was asked to fill in at centre-back, and his age began to show as Wolves ran in behind the Brazilian regularly.
Aymeric Laporte – 6
Made a brilliant recovery tackle on Jimenez but the bigger worry will be the knee injury that forced him off the pitch after an hour.
Oleksandr Zinchenko – 4
A poor performance as he struggled to live with Chiquinho.
Rodri – 6
A quiet night for the Spaniard.
Ilkay Gundogan – 7
Helped gain control of the midfield that City never really looked like letting go of
Bernardo Silva – 8
Provided a perfect pass for the opener and was brilliant again.
Raheem Sterling – 6
Scored but could well have had a hat-trick with a couple of poor misses.
Kevin De Bruyne- 10
Superlatives fail yet again as a dazzling performance saw De Bruyne grab all four goals to cement all three points.
Phil Foden – 7
Grabbed an assist and hit the post with a strike in the second half. Another good attacking display from the young star.
Substitutes
Nathan Ake – 6
Solid when he came on, but was hardly tested.
Riyad Mahrez – N/A
Was not on the pitch long enough to make an impact.
Jack Grealish -N/A
Was not on the pitch long enough to make an impact.
What the experts said
200 – With 84 goals and 116 assists, Kevin De Bruyne has been involved in exactly 200 goals in 305 games for Man City in all competitions, with this now his best goalscoring season for the Citizens (17 goals). Landmark. pic.twitter.com/bpqKMFm5TN
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 11, 2022
Does feel as if De Bruyne’s delivered two major performances as a response to being below par in Madrid last week.
— Jack Gaughan (@Jack_Gaughan) May 11, 2022
What the fans said
KDB weak footed hat trick in 25mins in a game of this importance? This bloke is a joke ?????
— Joe Thomlinson (@joethomlinson) May 11, 2022
Man city is winning the next 5 premier league titles. It’s gonna be scary hours with haaland
— Jrue “can’t shoot” Holiday (@KakashiSensie11) May 11, 2022
Kevin De Bruyne scored his three goals against Wolves from an xG of 0.36.
Clinical Kev. ? pic.twitter.com/GeaX2H5E9i
— Amos Murphy (@AmosMurphy_) May 11, 2022
What you may have missed
It was good news across Manchester too.
Wolves’ defeat means Man Utd will definitely play European football next season.
— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) May 11, 2022
Click here to view our latest Premier League betting tips.
The Premier League table as it stands
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | D | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 35 | 27 | 5 | 3 | 89 | 21 | 68 | 86 |
| 2 | Liverpool FC | 36 | 26 | 8 | 2 | 89 | 24 | 65 | 86 |
| 3 | Chelsea FC | 35 | 19 | 10 | 6 | 70 | 31 | 39 | 67 |
| 4 | Arsenal FC | 35 | 21 | 3 | 11 | 56 | 42 | 14 | 66 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 35 | 19 | 5 | 11 | 60 | 40 | 20 | 62 |
| 6 | Manchester United | 37 | 16 | 10 | 11 | 57 | 56 | 1 | 58 |
| 7 | West Ham United | 36 | 16 | 7 | 13 | 57 | 46 | 11 | 55 |
| 8 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 35 | 15 | 5 | 15 | 35 | 34 | 1 | 50 |
| 9 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 36 | 11 | 14 | 11 | 38 | 42 | -4 | 47 |
| 10 | Crystal Palace | 35 | 10 | 14 | 11 | 46 | 42 | 4 | 44 |
| 11 | Aston Villa | 35 | 13 | 4 | 18 | 48 | 49 | -1 | 43 |
| 12 | Brentford FC | 36 | 12 | 7 | 17 | 44 | 52 | -8 | 43 |
| 13 | Newcastle United | 36 | 11 | 10 | 15 | 40 | 61 | -21 | 43 |
| 14 | Leicester City | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 49 | 56 | -7 | 42 |
| 15 | Southampton FC | 36 | 9 | 13 | 14 | 41 | 61 | -20 | 40 |
| 16 | Everton FC | 34 | 10 | 5 | 19 | 37 | 56 | -19 | 35 |
| 17 | Burnley FC | 35 | 7 | 13 | 15 | 32 | 49 | -17 | 34 |
| 18 | Leeds United | 35 | 8 | 10 | 17 | 39 | 74 | -35 | 34 |
| 19 | Watford FC | 35 | 6 | 4 | 25 | 32 | 70 | -38 | 22 |
| 20 | Norwich City | 35 | 5 | 6 | 24 | 22 | 75 | -53 | 21 |
Last updated: 1 min ago
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Premier League table
| # | Team | MP | D | P |
| 1 | Manchester City | 35 | 68 | 86 |
| 2 | Liverpool FC | 36 | 65 | 86 |
| 3 | Chelsea FC | 35 | 39 | 67 |
| 4 | Arsenal FC | 35 | 14 | 66 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 35 | 20 | 62 |
| 6 | Manchester United | 37 | 1 | 58 |
| 7 | West Ham United | 36 | 11 | 55 |
| 8 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 35 | 1 | 50 |
| 9 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 36 | -4 | 47 |
| 10 | Crystal Palace | 35 | 4 | 44 |
| 11 | Aston Villa | 35 | -1 | 43 |
| 12 | Brentford FC | 36 | -8 | 43 |
| 13 | Newcastle United | 36 | -21 | 43 |
| 14 | Leicester City | 34 | -7 | 42 |
| 15 | Southampton FC | 36 | -20 | 40 |
| 16 | Everton FC | 34 | -19 | 35 |
| 17 | Burnley FC | 35 | -17 | 34 |
| 18 | Leeds United | 35 | -35 | 34 |
| 19 | Watford FC | 35 | -38 | 22 |
| 20 | Norwich City | 35 | -53 | 21 |
| Player | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Salah, Mohamed | Liverpool FC | 22 |
| Son, Heung Min | Tottenham Hotspur | 20 |
| Ronaldo, Cristiano | Manchester United | 18 |
| Jota, Diogo | Liverpool FC | 15 |
| Mane, Sadio | Liverpool FC | 15 |
| Kane, Harry | Tottenham Hotspur | 13 |
| Zaha, Wilfried | Crystal Palace | 13 |
| Toney, Ivan | Brentford FC | 12 |
| Sterling, Raheem | Manchester City | 12 |
| Vardy, Jamie | Leicester City | 12 |
| Mount, Mason | Chelsea FC | 11 |
| De Bruyne, Kevin | Manchester City | 11 |
| Saka, Bukayo | Arsenal FC | 11 |
| Mahrez, Riyad | Manchester City | 11 |
| Bowen, Jarrod | West Ham United | 10 |
| Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United | 10 |
| Dennis, Emmanuel | Watford FC | 10 |
| Pukki, Teemu | Norwich City | 10 |
| Raphinha | Leeds United | 10 |
| Smith-Rowe, Emile | Arsenal FC | 10 |
| Player | Team | Red Cards | Yellow Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brownhill, Josh | Burnley FC | 0 | 10 |
| Bednarek, Jan | Southampton FC | 0 | 10 |
| Tarkowski, James | Burnley FC | 0 | 10 |
| Bissouma, Yves | Brighton & Hove Albion | 0 | 10 |
| Firpo, Junior | Leeds United | 0 | 10 |
| Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United | 0 | 9 |
| Gallagher, Conor | Crystal Palace | 0 | 9 |
| Neves, Ruben | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 0 | 9 |
| Mings, Tyrone | Aston Villa | 0 | 9 |
| Xhaka, Granit | Arsenal FC | 1 | 8 |
| Mctominay, Scott | Manchester United | 0 | 9 |
| Salisu, Mohammed | Southampton FC | 0 | 8 |
| Ronaldo, Cristiano | Manchester United | 0 | 8 |
| Dennis, Emmanuel | Watford FC | 0 | 7 |
| Richarlison | Everton FC | 0 | 8 |
| Pogba, Paul | Manchester United | 1 | 7 |
| James, Daniel | Leeds United | 1 | 7 |
| Alonso, Marcos | Chelsea FC | 0 | 8 |
| Moreno, Rodrigo | Leeds United | 0 | 8 |
| McGinn, John | Aston Villa | 0 | 8 |
| Player | Team | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| Salah, Mohamed | Liverpool FC | 13 |
| Alexander-Arnold, Trent | Liverpool FC | 12 |
| Mount, Mason | Chelsea FC | 10 |
| Bowen, Jarrod | West Ham United | 10 |
| Robertson, Andy | Liverpool FC | 10 |
| Kane, Harry | Tottenham Hotspur | 9 |
| Barnes, Harvey | Leicester City | 9 |
| Pogba, Paul | Manchester United | 9 |
| Jesus, Gabriel | Manchester City | 8 |
| Kulusevski, Dejan | Tottenham Hotspur | 8 |
| Cancelo, Joao | Manchester City | 8 |
| Son, Heung Min | Tottenham Hotspur | 7 |
| De Bruyne, Kevin | Manchester City | 7 |
| Lacazette, Alexandre | Arsenal FC | 7 |
| James, Reece | Chelsea FC | 7 |
| Mbeumo, Bryan | Brentford FC | 7 |
| Saka, Bukayo | Arsenal FC | 6 |
| Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United | 6 |
| Dennis, Emmanuel | Watford FC | 6 |
| Antonio, Michail | West Ham United | 6 |
