Manchester City proved yet again why they are the current leaders of the Premier League table. After suffering one goal by Burnley in the first half last Saturday, City fulfilled their dream of a quadruple in the second half to grab the 3-points. This victory means that they are still undefeated in the season, and with 15 points ahead of their nearest rival, the Premier League trophy is only theirs for the taking.
However in the first half of the match, we saw the Clarets outplaying City. Instead of concentrating their energies on the defense, the Burnley team were attacking the backline of City, a complete opposite strategy of small teams against the Blues. That’s why, some very good chances came in their way. A corner in the 17th minute was the closest chance, which was played to the far post towards Ben Mee whose header miraculously missed the nets.
However, it was not long before one more opportunity knocked at their doors when John Stones made a terrible mistake. And this time Ashley Barnes did not miss the opportunity to get the lead. While the Blues tried but could not score in this half, Burnley had placed themselves in a very good position.
This outstanding play in the first half by Burnley should not be all that surprising, since they have been impressive throughout this season. They have beaten the defending champions Chelsea and equalised with teams like Tottenham Hotspurs, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United.
On the side of City, some changes were made by Pep Guardiola. Oleksandr Zinchenko and Danilo were included in the team, while Ilkay Gundagon had come in the place of Kevin De Bruyne and Caludio Bravo was started between the sticks.
However, what Manchester City lacked in the first half, they more than made up in the second. We got to see their vitality and aggression against Burnley who was now busy strengthening their defenses. The brilliant coordination of Aguero and Gundogan allowed them to score a perfect goal in the 56th minute of the play. Before the Burnley players knew what happened, Aguero had converted the brilliant pass of Gundogan into an incredible goal. This changed the whole tide of the match, for barely two minutes later the duo managed to strike again. Gundogan backheeled the ball to the running Aguero who made it look like a very easy goal in the end.
After this, the game was totally in control of Manchester City. They scored two more goals to fulfill the dream of quadruple. David Silva was looking amazing throughout the whole game, who later provided the assist which Leroy Sane converted into a goal. The final goal came off the feet of Bernardo Silva in the 82 minute, and hence City won by 4-1.
Their next match was against Bristol City which somehow looked as if it was going to end like that of Burnley but they eventually won at the end. They will be back in action on Saturday when they take on Liverpool at the Anfield for their Premier League Gameweek 23 fixtures at the Anfield. This is definitely going to be a scintillating encounter as City are yet to win a match at Anfield in the Premier League for nearly 15 years – bad news for the league leaders ahead of their trip to Liverpool.