Gabriel Jesus of Manchester City celebrates after scoring their side's fifth goal from a penalty
Gabriel Jesus, Manchester City's star striker led City to a 5-1 win against Watford. After the match City has gained a four-point lead over second-placed Liverpool in the title race.
Jusus scored more goals in 53 minutes than he had in the previous eight months in the English Premier League. He netted twice in the first half and twice more in the opening eight minutes of the second half — one of which was a penalty to complete his hat trick.
In this season of the league, he is the first player to to score four goals in one game.
Liverpool can trim that back to one point with five matches left by beating Everton in the Merseyside derby on Sunday.
Before the match against Watford, the Brazil international had scored just three goals in the league.
Rodri scored the other goal after collecting a pass from which used the match to give key players a rest ahead of Real Madrid's visit in the Champions League semifinals on Tuesday.
While City stayed on course for the title, fierce rival Manchester United likely dropped out of the race for Champions League qualification.
By losing at Arsenal 3-1, United fell six points behind its top-four rival and manager Ralf Rangnick all but called time on his team's season.
“I don't think it's very realistic to dream and think of the top four," Rangnick said at the end of a week when United also lost at Liverpool 4-0 and hired a new manager, Ajax's Erik ten Hag, for the start of next season.
In other games, last-placed Norwich plunged closer to relegation with a 3-0 loss at home to Newcastle. It left Norwich eight points from safety with only five games remaining.
Mid-table teams Leicester and Aston Villa drew 0-0.
(Inputs from PTI)
