Burnley 0-2 Man City: Visitors extend Premier League lead

Manchester City extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points as they eased to a 2-0 victory over Burnley at Turf Moor.

Pep Guardiola’s men played in third gear for most of the evening, as Burnley struggled to disturb them without either Ashley Barnes or Chris Wood up front.

Just three minutes passed before City took the lead, and the goal came courtesy of a Nick Pope error. The Burnley goalkeeper could only parry a shot from Bernardo Silva straight into the path of Gabriel Jesus, who nodded home from close range.

Moments later, Pope was put under pressure again, this time from Riyad Mahrez’s angled shot, which he pushed away more confidently.

The goalkeeper was fortunate again after 18 minutes, though, when he misjudged a long ball and rushed out to close down Raheem Sterling, who couldn’t capitalise.

With less than 10 minutes remaining of the first half, the dominant visitors added a second. Ilkay Gundogan reached the byline and fired the ball across for Sterling, who was waiting to tap into an empty net.

Soon after half-time, Pope took an opportunity to further redeem himself for his earlier error.

Sterling was bearing down on goal, but he kept his nerve and saved brilliantly with his feet.

VAR then denied Mahrez a third for City when he finished off Jesus’ cross-cum-shot only to be adjudged to be narrowly offside after a quick check.

Burnley struggled to build any sort of momentum throughout, but finally had a sight of goal when Matej Vydra, who worked incredibly hard all night, chested and volleyed a shot harmlessly over the bar.

The visitors were incensed at Martin Atkinson’s decision not to award a penalty after a coming together between Jesus and James Tarkowski after great linkup play between Gundogan and Mahrez.

This time, there was no check from VAR, though it mattered little in the end.

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