Manchester City 5 Burnley 1: match report

Blues put five past Burnley in second-half rout

Manchester City welcomed Burnley to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon following a midweek cup win against Huddersfield Town. Donnarumma returned to the starting lineup. O’Reilly, Gvardiol, Dias, and Nunes were the back four. Gonzalez, Reijnders, and Foden were in the midfield with Doku, Savinho, and Haaland in attack. Kyle Walker also returned to the Etihad starting for Burnley, in his first appearance playing against the club since his departure earlier this year

It was a quick start to the game for the Blues with Doku impressing on the wings once again. In the 12th minute, Doku danced through the Burnley defence and attempted to put a cross in towards Foden, but the ball was met with the foot of defender Esteve who put the ball into the back of his own net to give City an early 1-0 lead. For the remainder of the first half, City struggled to find another and were put under pressure by the Burnley attack, who capitalised on some defensive errors by the Blues and posed an increased threat. Eventually the carelessness in defence caught up to City in the 35th minute when a Burnley ball into a crowded box managed to find Jaidon Anthony who struck the ball into the bottom corner to bring the scores level once again. City were frustrated for the rest of the first half with Haaland missing an opportunity and increased Burnley resistance and went into half time level.

Burnley made a decent start to the second half – almost taking the lead themselves with a chance that was deflected just wide off Nunes. City finally regained control of the game in the 65th minute, with a cross in from Doku to Haaland who headed it to the foot of Nunes to volley into the roof of the net to return the lead for the Blues. One way traffic ensued with City scoring again just two minutes later when Nunes cross in found a misfortunate Esteve once again who scored another own goal to double City’s lead. A day to forget for the Burnley defender.

Substitutions were made, Gvardiol was replaced by Ake, O’Reilly by Lewis, Reijnders with Bernardo to see City’s lead out. The Blues kept complete control of the game and looked settled with 3-1 until the 89th minute, when Haaland finally scored to give City a three-goal lead with an excellent finish to follow up Doku’s cross. Minutes later, Haaland got a brace when the Burnley defence headed back towards their own goal for the Norwegian to collect and put it past Dubravka with the last kick of the game to give City a 5-1 victory.

City now sit 5th in the Premier League. They face Monaco on Wednesday night in the second champions league match of this season’s campaign, looking to continue their good form so far. Doku and Haaland continue to be impressive and will look to be the difference makers for City this season – early days yet but an impressive showing of ruthlessness when needed that the Blues perhaps lacked last season.