Samba de Janeiro Gabriel Jesus scores FOUR as Man City trash Championship-bound Watford 5-1

Gabriel Jesus single-handedly trashed Watford in 5-1 win for Man City as the Hornets are edging ever closer to relegation after a dismal run of six losses in their last seven Premier League outings.

Pep Guardiola's Man City extended theif lead at the top to four points and yet again wiped the floor with the Hertfordshire club as the Mancunians have now won 15 of their last 15 fixtures against the Championship-bound Hornets.

And such was their lacklustre showing that it was difficult to differentiate between Watford’s defenders and training ground mannequins.

Man City’s superstars cut through the Hornets’ defence over and over again and they didn’t even need to get out of first gear.

On paper Man City away is the toughest assignment of the season for any Premier League club, let alone for the beleaguered Hornets who trail the reigning champions by a staggering 58 points in the table.

Such was the gulf in class that one could be forgiven for thinking this was a pre-season friendly between a Champions League-winning side and a bunch of amateurs who after years of admiration on television finally had the chance to face their heroes in a real game of football.

Gabriel Jesus, who more than anyone else has a menacingly dark cloud named Erling Haaland hanging over him, struck a stunning four , a brace either side of half-time.

Rodri with a sweetly-struck volley from distance and Hassane Kamara with a temporary hope-restoring 2-1 were the other two players on the scoresheet.

Unplayable FOUR-goal hero Gabriel Jesus threw his first Mike Tysonesque punch after only four minutes into the game when he tapped Oleksandr Zinchenko’s square pass into an unguarded net.

It was clear at that point that Man City would reign supreme and make it 15 wins from their last 15 against the Championship-bound Hornets who barely pulled up any trees.

This was a damage limitation exercise but Man City showed no sympathy for Watford on their last visit to this stadium in a league game for quite some time.

Eight minutes after going 1-0 up, Zinchenko came to his side’s rescue with a brilliant intervention.

Emmanuel Dennis, through on goal and with Moussa Sissoka making the run with him and in a good position to tap hope a ball that never arrived, selfishly attempted to have a go himself.

Three minutes later ex-Manchester United keeper Ben Foster did extremely well to claw Joao Cancelo’s prodded effort off the line.

But man of the match Gabriel Jesus doubled the advantage with a diving header at the far post. No Watford player picked him up and he gave Kevin De Bruyne’s cross the finish it warranted.

But unfazed by leaving too much space at the back for the hosts to exploit, Watford deserve credit for their bravery. And on 28 minutes Kamara latched on to Emmanuel Dennis’ lovely-weighted ball into space to soothe Roy Hodgson’s woes.

The Ivorian smashed a fierce yet not unstoppable drive under Ederson’s left arm and the Brazilian keeper knows he should have kept that one out.

And then Rodri’s moment of magic arrived. The Spaniard chested a wonderful Gabriel Jesus cutback down before unleashing a terrific effort into the top corner.

Raheem Sterling missed a glaring opportunity from world beater Gabriel Jesus, skying his effort from range.

The invisible Ismaila Sarr could only muster a venomous shot off target on the stroke of half-time in what was one of his first touches of the game. Too little for someone who wants to earn a move to a title-challenging Premier League side in the summer.

A minute into the second-half double-chasing Man City were awarded a penalty for a foul by Foster on Gabriel Jesus in the six-yard area.

The fouled striker, on a mission to attract potential suitors, made no mistake from twelve yards before he converted Kevin De Bruyne’s cutback on 53 minutes.

Boasting a four-goal advantage, the Man City players decided to take their foot off the pedal to preserve their energies for the Champions League semi-final first leg against Real Madrid on Tuesday.

It could have been worse, much worse for Watford whose days in the Premier League are numbered.

All things considered, this Gabriel Jesus would have found his place in the Brazilian 1994-World Cup winning side with Bebeto and Romario up-front.

Haaland is warned.

Line-ups

Manchester City

31 Ederson – 3 Ruben Dias- 7 Raheem Sterling- 9 Gabriel Jesus- 10 Jack Grealish- 11 Oleksandr Zinchenko- 14 Aymeric Laporte- 16 Rodri- 17 Kevin De Bruyne- 25 Fernandinho- 27 Joao Cancelo

Watford

1 Ben Foster- 2 Jeremy Ngakia- 6 Imran Louza- 7 Joshua King- 8 Tom Cleverley- 14 Hassane Kamara- 19 Moussa Sissoko- 22 Samir- 23 Ismaila Sarr- 25 Emmanuel Dennis- 27 Christian Kabasele