Ruthless Manchester City defeat Burnley 5-0 in clinical showing, Phil Foden stars for Citizens

Burnley FC Manchester City
Posted by

Manchester City were clinical in this evening’s Premier League clash against Burnley, Pep Guardiola’s men beat the Clarets 5-0.

City’s victory means that Liverpool will have to wait that little bit longer to secure the Premier League title officially. The Citizens carved open Burnley with some trademark world-class attacking play.

Here’s how the two sides lined up for the game:

Manchester City, 4-3-3: Ederson, Cancelo, Otamendi, Fernandinho, Zinchenko, Bernardo Silva, Rodri, David Silva, Mahrez, Aguero, Foden.

Subs: 45+4′ Jesus on for Aguero, 61′ Laporte and De Bruyne on for Fernandinho and Mahrez, 79′ Sane for Foden.

Burnley, 4-4-2: Pope, Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor, Brownhill, Westwood, Cork, McNeil, Vydra, Rodriguez.

Subs: 60′ Pieters on for Rodriguez, 88′ Thompson for Vydra.

First-half:

The opening 15 minutes of the encounter weren’t filled with much action, Guardiola’s side were just slowly taking a foothold in the game, the Citizens soon showed their clinical touch.

Wonderkid Phil Foden handed his boyhood club the lead in the 21st minute, City caught out Burnley with a short corner and the attacking midfielder drilled in a fine strike from 25 yards out.

In the 42nd minute, Burnley were punished for leaving Riyad Mahrez in far too much space, Fernandinho played an inch-perfect long pass into the Algerian ace from central defence.

Mahrez showed off his insane dribbling by turning Charlie Taylor inside and out before hammering the ball into the back of the net with a low strike.

The Manchester outfit made it 3-0 right on the brink of halftime after a controversial penalty call. VAR ruled that the Citizens be awarded a spot-kick after Ben Mee’s challenge on Sergio Aguero.

The centre-back appeared to get a foot in with a 50/50 challenge, the replay showed that Aguero in fact had the ball first, with Mee catching the Argentine, a spot-kick was ruled.

Aguero was injured from the challenge and was replaced by Gabriel Jesus, leaving Riyad Mahrez to step up and bag his second from the penalty spot.

Take a look at the decision below:

Second-half:

City continued to dominate in the second-half. Burnley were once again punished for their lax reaction to a short corner in the 50th minute.

Foden slipped Bernardo Silva in with a lovely through ball and the Portuguese playmaker teed up David Silva with a low cross, the Spaniard showed a burst of pace to get in front of his man and put the ball into the back of the net.

In the 63rd minute it was 5-0 after a fine team move by Guardiola’s men. Kevin de Bruyne surged forward with the ball before playing in Bernardo Silva.

Bernardo once again showed how dangerous he is in the final third with a low cross into Jesus, the striker’s cross-cum-shot ended up at the far post, where Foden was on hand to score with a side-foot finish.

Game stats:

Courtesy of Sky Sports.
More Stories / Latest News
Exclusive: Bayern star happy to stay but new manager could change transfer situation, says Fabrizio Romano
West Ham identify manager candidates as David Moyes nears exit
Exclusive: Fabrizio Romano confirms “interest” in Unai Emery amid talk of Liverpool job

Post-match thoughts:

City are just far too gifted in the final third for most sides outside of the top six to deal with, this was clear during this evening’s clash, Pep’s men completely dominated.

The Citizens now have almost double the amount of matches in which 5 goals were scored when compared to rivals Liverpool and north London outfit Tottenham.

As bad as it may sound, this defeat doesn’t really impact Burnley much, Sean Dyche’s side have 39 points and sit in 11th – so they aren’t at threat of being relegated.

City’s attacking display tonight is about as good as you’re going to see in one of Europe’s top five leagues.

The Citizens should be using the run-in to build some momentum to allow them to better challenge Liverpool for the Premier League title next season.

Man of the Match: Foden or Bernardo Silva, one showed an eye for the back of the net and the other was just as good in creating the very same goalscoring opportunities.

More Stories Pep Guardiola Sean Dyche