Burnley 0-2 Manchester City
Manchester City went three points clear at the top of the Premier League tonight with a comfortable victory over Burnley at Turf Moor, a 13th consecutive win in all competitions.
An early goal from Gabriel Jesus put the Sky Blues in charge and Raheem Sterling doubled the lead before half time as Pep Guardiola’s side collected another three points. In recent years this fixture has been a nightmare for Burnley, with a sequence of 5-0 defeats lowering their fans’ expectations. The Clarets have recovered from an injury-ravaged start to the season, but they started this game without five first-string players, including strike duo Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes, so it was always going to be an uphill battle for Sean Dyche’s men.
Here at SBOTOP, we predicted a narrower win for the Sky Blues and 2-0 fit the bill, but it could have been a few more and for that Burnley will be grateful.
Highlights of the game
With the absence of Kevin de Bruyne suffering from a hamstring injury, City didn’t find it easy to break down Chelmsford, Aston Villa and Sheffield United in recent games, and tonight they were facing a tough defence. But it only took them three minutes to breach the Clarets rearguard when Gabriel Jesus headed the Sky Blues into the lead. Raheem Sterling skipped past Matt Lowton and crossed for Bernardo Silva and his shot was parried away into the path of Jesus who nodded home.
Burnley keeper Nick Pope has a strong case to be England’s number one at Euro 2020 this summer, but he will have been disappointed with his effort there.
The Clarets slowly worked their way into the game and contained the hungry City attack, but they were undone again just before half time when Mahrez fed Ilkay Gundogan, and he fired a ball into the danger area where Sterling was on hand to slot home.
The league leaders were coasting. They had cut the Burnley defence open twice and converted twice, and they almost went 3-0 up early in the second half when Sterling was clean through on goal, but Pope made himself big and saved. Mahrez had the ball in the net but was flagged offside, and then Burnley had a rare attempt on goal when Matej Vydra collected a cross from Ashley Westwood and cleverly brought the ball down before smashing a volley just wide.
City should have had a penalty when James Tarkowski clipped Jesus’ heels but VAR was unimpressed, and the Sky Blues…and the Clarets settled for two.
Key statistics
Manchester City enjoy playing against Burnley; they have won this fixture by an aggregate of 28 to 1 over the last eight meetings, and the best news for the Clarets is that they only have to play the Sky Blues twice a year!
Take a look at the latest Premier League 2021 betting odds and they are backing Pep Guardiola’s side to win the 2020/21 title for a number of reasons:
- City have won 13 games on the bounce
- They have conceded just one goal in the last nine games, and have kept six consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League
- The Sky Blues are unbeaten in 20 games
- They are on this incredible run of form without De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero.
What’s next?
The midweek Premier League fixtures conclude tomorrow night when Spurs host Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea, and then we head into the weekend with another full set of matches to enjoy and we’ll be back with the big Premier League 2021 news and updates as the games approach.
Sunday’s match of the day pits Manchester City against the resurgent Liverpool at Anfield, in a clash which could see the Sky Blues pull away from the chasing pack. Then the Pep’s side heads off to South Wales to face Swansea City in the FA Cup.
Burnley have a big home game against Brighton on Saturday when a victory would put further distance between them and the relegation zone, and then they have an FA Cup 5th Round clash against Championship high flyer Bournemouth.
City were superb tonight, and Burnley will be glad to move forward to games they have a good chance of winning!
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
