Gabriel Jesus is nearly there – a whole 12 months without tasting defeat in a competitive match, for club or country. The Manchester City striker is just two fixtures shy of achieving the feat and given City’s form, as well as his own, he should get there with relative ease.
The countdown begins on Tuesday evening as the Premier League leaders switch attention to the Carabao Cup and a fourth‑round home tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Midlands side arrive at the Etihad Stadium in fine form, leading the Championship after winning nine of their opening 13 fixtures, but they are likely to be overpowered by a City side in scintillating, free-scoring form.
After that there is a league visit to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday. Not the easiest of assignments but, again, one City should navigate with relative ease. And should they do so, with Jesus involved on both occasions, it will be a case of mission accomplished for the 20-year-old and a remarkable run stretching back to 29 October 2016 when his Palmeiras side lost 1-0 against Santos in Brazil’s Serie A.
“I’m very happy to have been all this time without losing a game,” Jesus said. “But it’s not only me, it’s thanks to the teams I have played in, such as Palmeiras, the Brazilian national team and now Manchester City. I’m very happy for achieving that milestone of a whole year without a defeat. But I must keep working hard and keep performing well in the games.”
Jesus has been an unqualified success since signing for City, from Palmeiras, for an initial £27m in August 2016. The Brazil international has scored 15 goals in 23 appearances for Pep Guardiola’s side and who knows how many more he could have secured had he not sustained a fractured metatarsal at Bournemouth in February which kept him out of action for more than two months.
“The worst moment of my career so far was the injury,” Jesus said. “But it didn’t knock me down. I had everybody’s support. That helped me a lot to overcome the injury.”
Jesus is almost certain to feature against Wolves but may not start in what is expected to be a much changed lineup. Sergio Agüero is expected to appear from the off and could become City’s all-time record goalscorer. The Argentinian shares the accolade with Eric Brook having struck his 177th goal for City in the 3-0 victory against Burnley on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Football Association has announced that Bernardo Silva will not be retrospectively punished for diving after winning the penalty against Burnley that led to Agüero opening the scoring on 30 minutes.
The 23-year-old appeared to go down easily under a challenge from the visitors’ goalkeeper Nick Pope, but in tweet published by the FA on Monday, a spokesperson said: “Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva faces no further action for alleged simulation against Burnley FC on 21/10/17 after an FA panel review.”