Josko Gvardiol has opened up on snubbing the chance to become the first Premier League defender to score a hat-trick in Manchester City’s 4-0 win at Fulham.
Gvardiol continued his fine form in front of goal with two goals at Craven Cottage, as the Premier League champions moved above Arsenal and top of the table.
The Croatian opened the scoring with a stunning solo charge and finish, before Phil Foden doubled the advantage with his 25th goal of the campaign. Gvardiol added a second from Bernardo Silva’s cross at the back post, and had the chance to complete a treble late on.
City were awarded a spot-kick deep into stoppage time but after brief discussions with captain Kyle Walker, designated on-field taker Julian Alvarez converted to seal the win.
The 22-year-old would have become the first defender to score a Premier League hat-trick had he scored the penalty, though said he was happy for Alvarez to pull rank.
“Another great performance, not just from me but the team as well. It was a very good goal, but today we showed who we are and what we are ready for,” Gvardiol said speaking to TNT Sports:
“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.”
Gvardiol has now scored five goals in his last seven appearances from left-back. However, he said his focus is only on ending the season successfully with the Premier League title.
“Nothing different, I think that is normal in sport,” he said on his goal run.
“Currently I am in good form and end of the season is coming, three more finals and we’ve got to be ready.
“We just need to be focused on ourselves and keep going that way. Of course we talk about it [goal difference] and as you can see we are trying to get there. But it is not easy, Arsenal have quality as well and they are doing quite well as well.”
