♦ Josko Gvardiol denied a hat-trick after letting Julian Alvarez take late penalty
♦ The Croatian misses out on being first Premier League defender to net a treble
Josko Gvardiol has revealed the reason he declined the opportunity to become the first defender to net a Premier League hat-trick in Manchester City’s 4-0 win over Fulham.
City cruised to victory at Craven Cottage to leapfrog Arsenal at the top of the Premier League, but the Croatian missed out on a piece of history.
Gvardiol continued his goal-scoring hot streak by netting twice for Pep Guardiola’s side, before they were awarded a 97th-minute penalty.
Julian Alvarez was fouled by Issa Diop, with the Fulham defender dismissed for the challenge, and it gave the City defence the chance to become the first defender to net a Premier League treble.
However, the Croatian missed the chance to write his name in the history books when he allowed Alvarez to dust himself off and take the penalty himself – despite his team-mates urging him to take the spot kick.
Josko Gvardiol scored twice for Man City but missed out on a hat-trick against Fulham
Gvardiol let Julian Alvarez take a stoppage time penalty to deny him a Premier League first
The Croatian opened the scoring for Man City by finishing this nineteen-pass move
The Argentine obliged by calmly slotting the ball into the bottom corner to put the finishing touch to a fairy comprehensive afternoon for the reigning champions.
After the game, Gvardiol was asked by TNT Sports why he didn’t step up and take the penalty, and he revealed he was just following team orders.
He said: ‘Another two goals for me and of course another clean sheet. Really happy.
‘We discussed about me taking the penalty, and of course I would have liked to, but we have a taker and he takes them.
‘At the end Julian came on and he took it to score the goal.’
It Manchester City just thirteen minutes to open the scoring in West London. Gvardiol putting the final touch to a move which saw nineteen passes before Kevin De Bruyne slotted the ball for the defender to finish.
The goal was the 22-year-old’s fourth goal in seven games for the club, and he didn’t have to wait long to extend his run even further.
The two goals for Gvardiol means it’s now five in seven games for the Man City defender
Everton defender Steve Watson (right) scored a treble in 2003 but wasn’t playing in defence
Twenty minutes from the end, Gvardiol stole in at the back post with a deft touch to Bernardo Silva’s free-kick to put his team 3-0 up on the day, after Phil Foden had nabbed City’s second.
Yet, he was denied a history-making hat-trick, as Guardiola’s men took a two point lead at the top of the Premier League.
The only defender to score a treble in the Premier League was Everton’s Steve Watson. However, the goals came while Watson wasn’t playing in defence against Leeds in 2003.
The win means the title race attention turns to Arsenal who travel to Manchester United tomorrow knowing they need to beat Erik ten Hag’s men to keep the pressure on Manchester City ahead of their midweek clash with Spurs.