Gabriel Jesus set up a pair of goals in Manchester City’s demolition of Norwich City on Saturday, leading Pep Guardiola to gush about his Brazilian forward.
The 24-year-old was an answer to questions about forward play stemming from Man City’s loss to Spurs, and produced a pair of assists to go with two key passes.
[ MORE: How to watch Premier League in USA ]
It was a Man of the Match performance on a day of several.
“If one person deserves respect and prizes and everything, it is him, because he’s never complained,” Guardiola said. “It is one of the reasons why when you wake up in the morning, you go to work, it is to see this type of player, this type of human being. His mom and dad have to be so proud to have a person like him.”
Guardiola was also asked about Jack Grealish, one of the recipients of a Jesus assist.
[ MORE: Three things we learned from Man City vs Norwich City ]
Grealish scored a back post goal to start his City goalscoring career, and Guardiola lifted the lid wide open on his plans for the nine-figure playmaker.
“Sooner or later we’ll see him in the final third, more aggressive to score a goal, to not just look into assists but go in there with the mentality like Riyad [Mahrez] had to go inside and the hole is there,” Guardiola said. “But it’s just two weeks with us, not five, six years.”
So it seems Guardiola sees Grealish as more of a Phil Foden or Raheem Sterling then a Kevin de Bruyne (though KDB scores more than his fair share of goals).
[ VIDEO: Premier League highlights ]
Speaking of Foden and KDB, they didn’t even play roles in this 5-0 win.
“One week ago, we are not contenders to win the Premier League. Now we are scary for the contenders,” Guardiola said. “Listen, we are the same team except Sergio (Aguero) went to Barcelona, and Jack. We are the same guys and the same team we were last season and last season was exceptional.”
