- Josko Gvardiol denied a hat-trick after allowing Julián Álvarez to take a penalty at the last moment
- The Croatian remains without being the first Premier League defender to achieve a treble
- Erik ten Hag has ‘lost his mind’ in ‘CAR-CRASH’ head coach role at Man United – Listen to the It’s all starting! podcast
Josko Gvardiol has revealed the reason why he turned down the chance to become the first defender to score a Premier League hat-trick in Manchester City’s 4-0 win over Fulham.
City claimed victory at Craven Cottage to overtake Arsenal at the top of the Premier League, but the Croatian missed out on a piece of history.
Gvardiol continued his good scoring streak by scoring twice for Pep Guardiola’s side, before a penalty was awarded in the 97th minute.
Julián Álvarez was fouled by Issa Diop, and the Fulham defender was sent off for the challenge, giving the City defense the chance to become the first defender to score a Premier League hat-trick.
However, the Croatian missed the opportunity to write his name in the history books when he allowed Alvarez to dust himself off and take the penalty himself, despite his teammates urging him to take the penalty.
Josko Gvardiol scored two goals for Manchester City, but missed the hat-trick against Fulham
Gvardiol let Julián Álvarez take a penalty in stoppage time to deny him his first chance in the Premier League.
The Croatian opened the scoring for City by completing this nineteen-pass play
The Argentine complied by calmly putting the ball into the bottom corner to put the finishing touch to a fabulous afternoon for the reigning champions.
After the match, Gvardiol was asked about TNT Sports why he didn’t step forward and take the penalty, and revealed that he was just following the team’s orders.
He said: “Another two goals for me and of course another clean sheet.” Really happy.
“We talked about me taking the penalty and, of course, I would have liked to, but we have a taker and he takes it.”
“At the end Julián came in and took the opportunity to score the goal.”
Manchester City barely had thirteen minutes to open the scoring in west London. Gvardiol put the finishing touch on a play that featured nineteen passes before Kevin De Bruyne slotted the ball in for the defender to finish.
This goal was the 22-year-old’s fourth in seven appearances for the club and he did not have to wait long to extend his streak further.
Gvardiol’s two goals mean it is now five in seven games for the Manchester City defender
Everton defender Steve Watson (right) scored a hat-trick in 2003 but did not play in defence.
Twenty minutes from time, Gvardiol slotted in at the far post with a deft touch on Bernardo Silva’s free kick to put his team 3-0 up on the day, after Phil Foden had scored City’s second.
However, they were denied a historic treble as Guardiola’s men took a two-point lead at the top of the Premier League.
The only defender to achieve a hat-trick in the Premier League was Everton’s Steve Watson. However, the goals came while Watson was not playing in defense against Leeds in 2003.
The win means attention in the title race 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 against the Spurs.
