Gabriel Jesus saves Manchester City at the death to sink spirited Swansea
Manchester City 2 Swansea City 1: Gylfi Sigurdsson's strike looked likely to give the visitors a hard-earned point, but Jesus notched his second of the game in stoppage time
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Your support makes all the difference.There used to be a banner at Anfield: “Jesus Saves – Rush Scores from the Rebound”. Here, just when Manchester City needed it most, Gabriel Jesus scored from the rebound to ensure Manchester City’s second successive victory since his arrival.
It was, however, nothing like the 4-0 evisceration of West Ham with which the 19-year-old from Sao Paulo had announced himself on Wednesday night. It was an afternoon which Manchester City dominated then squandered before Jesus rescued the game in stoppage time with a header that was directed straight at Lukasz Fabianski.
In a first half Manchester City had dominated the Swansea keeper had pulled many more difficult saves but he was unable to hold to the ball and Jesus did the rest. Manchester City clambered back into the Champions League places above Arsenal and point behind Tottenham but fully 10 adrift of Chelsea.
When the final whistle sounded, Gylfi Sigurdsson, who had scored Swansea’s equaliser from the edge of the area and had struck the post with a free-kick, shook his head and looked distraught. Had you asked anyone who had travelled from south Wales their expectations at half time, the majority would have hoped Swansea would escape complete humiliation so dominant were Manchester City.
Sigurdsson had almost pulled off the kind of sporting upset he and his band of Icelandic warriors had inflicted on England on the Cote d’Azur. A first-half heat map of the Manchester City area would have resembled a piece of Siberian tundra. Willy Caballero did not have a shot aimed at his goal. The City keeper might have finished on the losing side.
Whenever Pep Guardiola was asked about what reinforcements Manchester City could expect in the January transfer window, he would smile and say “Jesus is coming”. Since the question was asked rather a lot in the run-up to Christmas, it was quite a good line from the City manager.
And yet with his players struggling to regain any kind of rhythm it seemed Guardiola was pinning an awful lot of hopes on a Brazilian teenager. After two matches, which have produced three goals, three assists and two victories you could understand what lay behind Guardiola’s smile. The boy from Sao Paulo carries with him the electricity that must have accompanied Colin Bell’s first games for Manchester City half a century before.
As he drove home, Guardiola would have asked himself why his team had not finished off this match before the interval and why they were so sluggish after it. Swansea, demonstrating the kind of resilience that Paul Clement has begun to instil, did not just threaten through Sigurdsson. A header from Alfie Mawson also flashed past Caballero’s post.
Manchester City’s emphatic start to the season under Guardiola that comprised of 10 straight victories, culminated with a 3-1 win over Swansea. After that came a frantic 3-3 draw with Celtic at Parkhead in the Champions League and, bit by bit, the aura that surrounded Guardiola began to be chipped away.
It was just Swansea’s luck that their return fixture against Manchester City should coincide with the return of Manchester City swagger and for 45 minutes they were pulled and pushed apart. Jesus’ first attempt at goal, a side-footed shot over the bar, arrived after one minute and 58 seconds.
After 11 minutes, David Silva had squeezed his way through a sandwich of Kyle Naughton and Federico Fernandez and played the ball back for Raheem Sterling. His shot was blocked but Jesus anticipated the rebound quicker than Jack Cork and City were ahead.
Sterling might have had a penalty rather than a booking for diving when he clattered into Fabianski but it seemed this was a game City were bound to win. A free-kick from Yaya Toure, placed languidly over the wall drew a very fine save and one moment saw Jesus surrounded by seven white shirts as he advanced with the ball. There is a photo of Diego Maradona playing against Belgium in the 1986 World Cup that looks very similar and right now the comparisons do not seem that outrageous.
Manchester City (4-1-4-1): Cababllero; Fernandinho, Stones, Kolarov, Clichy; Fernandinho, Toure; Sterling (Aguero 83), De Bruyne (Zabaleta 78), Silva (Fernando 90), Sane; Jesus.
Substitutes: Bravo, Kompany, Navas, Delph.
Swansea City (4-5-1): Fabianski; Naughton, Fernandez, Mawson, Olsson; Routledge (Narsingh 65), Fer, Cork, Carroll (Dyer 75), Sigurdsson; Llorente (Baston 83).
Substitutes: Nordfeldt, Amat, Britton, Baston, Kingsley.
Referee: M Dean (Merseyside)
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