April 02, (THEWILL) – Manchester City won 2-0 against Burnley at Turf Moor on Saturday, returning to the top of the Premier League table thanks to an early lead and contained display from Pep Guardiola’s side.
By kick-off, City had slipped to second place after Liverpool’s lunchtime triumph over Watford. Kevin De Bruyne, on the other hand, thumped his team ahead and back to the lead in less than five minutes.
Rodri spotted Raheem Sterling sliding through Burnley’s close-knit barricade in a play that could have been scribbled hastily on Guardiola’s whiteboard. Sterling cushioned the ball into De Bruyne’s path, who slammed it into the roof of the net.
With a lead to cling to, City slowed the pace to a crawl, almost encouraging Burnley to creep out of their defensive shell to create space between the lines.
De Bruyne found an unprotected patch of grass to set Sterling down the wing with an unbalanced one-two, despite Burnley’s emphasis on a lack of tenacity.
After 25 minutes, the England international supplied his second assist of the day, drilling the pass back from the byline for Ilkay Gundogan to volley in City’s second.
Sean Dyche’s side took a more proactive approach after an initial half in which they appeared in awe of a club their manager described as one of the game’s “superpowers.”
Around the hour mark, the hosts reminded City’s defence that they, too, had a licence to attack. Goalkeeper Nick Pope’s punted free kicks disturbed the City backline, which lost the ball but were fortunate not to concede.
With 15 minutes remaining to go, Ashley Westwood snatched a tackle on Jack Grealish in City’s half, bringing the customary Burnley press that had been absent from the hosts’ game. Westwood teed up Jay Rodriguez for Burnley’s first shot on target of the match, and only their third attempt all game.
City, on the other hand, kept Burnley at arm’s length to claim maximum points and retake their spot at the top of the EPL standings. However, there is only a point and a goal difference of just five separating Guardiola’s side and Liverpool. By implication, the title fight is only going to get more exciting.
Burnley were a long way behind the leaders and are still in second place from the other end of the table. They have games in hand on the clubs on either side of them, but they have already played once more than Everton, and time is running out for them to preserve control of their destiny.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
