Burnley 0 Man City 1
A bit of a disappointment for Man City after Sunday. Obviously they’ll be happy to come away with the three points but tonight was real chance to improve their goal difference against a team right down at the bottom of the league, City made the perfect start as Doku played a brilliant through ball to Haaland who raced towards the Burnley goal and coolly chipped the ball over Dubravka to give City the lead in the 5th minute. From there it looked like City were about to demolish Burnley but the home side actually created a number of opportunities with the best of the bunch falling to Flemming as Walker hit a brilliant cross-field ball to the Dutchman who took the ball down brilliantly and feinted a few of the City players including Donnarumma but couldn’t get his feet sorted out with the ball eventually going out for a corner, City created numerous chances after their goal as Dubravka made a miraculous save on Cherki onto the bar as the Citizens couldn’t find that second goal. The second half was much the same as City looked for that second with Haaland hitting the post and O’Reilly failing to make a strong connection with the ball which dribbled into Dubravka’s arms but City did see out the all important win which takes them top of the league.
An underwhelming performance from City who could have taken control of the goal-difference. As it stands City currently go above Arsenal on goals scored as the goal-difference is equal between the two teams which shows how crucial that stat could actually be at the end of the season, obviously the three points is the most important but I think Pep will be annoyed at how City failed to kill the game after scoring so early. I thought Antoine Semenyo had another poor game after the weekend which Pep might have to look at if he continues playing poorly on the right-hand-side, Cherki did look dazzling at times but then gave the ball away a few too many times but that’s what happens when you are playing against such a defensive side in Burnley. Doku got a brilliant assist for Haaland but was relatively quiet for the rest of the game as Kyle Walker did a good job up against the Belgian, O’Reilly actually had quite a poor game in that midfield which was a surprise after such a good run of form but I guess you can allow it with such a young player after playing left-back in the last few games. A wins a win but there were a few worrying signs for City tonight in Burnley.
Burnley are now relegated to the Championship. We’ve known it for some time now but Burnley are now mathematically relegated to the Championship in what yet again has been an underwhelming season for the Clarets, I don’t really know what more to say about Burnley who to be fair have stuck with Scott Parker for the whole season which I admire after he brought them up last season but they simply just don’t have anywhere near enough quality in that squad to stay in the Premier League and its shown all season. To stay in the Premier League now you basically need near enough an entire new squad after getting promoted which we’ve seen Sunderland do successfully along with making your home a fortress which we’ve seen Leeds do this season, unfortunately I don’t think Burnley will ever have the ability to change their entire squad after getting promoted along with making Turf Moor a fortress which I guess it was under Sean Dyche a few years ago. I suppose they’ll keep Scott Parker in charge for next season after doing so well in the Championship so it’ll be interesting to see if he bring Burnley back up next season.
The title isn’t going to come down to goal-difference. I know City didn’t drastically improve the goal-difference tonight but I don’t see both teams winning the rest of their games this season in the league which means it probably won’t matter, whilst City have been brilliant over the last few games there is weaknesses in this team which we’ve seen against Nottingham Forest and West Ham along with this game tonight where they should have been far more ruthless and put Burnley to the sword. Along the same lines I don’t see Arsenal winning the rest of their games either with the way they’re playing at the minute so I don’t think the goal-difference will come into this season although obviously I could be wrong, the last time goal-difference came into the title race was the 11/12 season where we obviously had the Aguero goal which I don’t really want to get into as a United fan but it doesn’t come into play often in a title race. I suppose only time will tell as to whether or not City will regret not scoring more tonight.
City go top for the first time since August. Arsenal fans might have switched the TV off after Haaland scored thinking City were gonna score 5 or 6 but Burnley kept it respectable and could have nicked a point at the end from a corner so the title race is still far from over this season, Arsenal face Newcastle in a must-win game at the Emirates on Saturday as the Gunners could go back to 1st in the league with a point whilst City still have that game in hand against Crystal Palace which will be played sometime over the next month. City play Southampton in the FA cup Semi-finals on Saturday as they look to reach back-to-back-to-back finals in that competition which would be some achievement, the next time they play in the Premier League will be against Everton at the Hill Dickinson which won’t be an easy game in a couple of weeks. Can Arsenal go back in front in the title race on Saturday? We’ll not have to wait to long to find out.