MATCH ACTION
Pep’s men KO Clarets to keep Reds waiting
THEIR reign as champions may be coming to an end but Manchester City are determined to make Liverpool wait as long as they can.
Phil Foden inspired Pep Guardiola’s side to the simplest of wins over hapless Burnley, which means Liverpool cannot claim the title against Crystal Palace at Anfield tomorrow.
City can frustrate them at least until the sides collide here next week, if they can avoid defeat at Chelsea on Thursday.
The Premier League’s second-placed side have been the quickest out of the blocks since football restarted and they must be frustrated by all the points they dropped before the shutdown.
This match was football’s equivalent of social distancing and Burnley did not get within a mile of City, let alone two metres.
Guardiola made eight changes, including a new back four, and they were still streets ahead of their opponents.
Foden dazzled, scoring twice, to show he is ready to step up and assume David Silva’s wand as City’s new magician.
Silva’s not finished yet, though, and he got in on the fun with a goal, while Riyad Mahrez bagged two.
To be fair to Sean Dyche’s Clarets, this was always going to be a damage-limitation exercise because they have been so severely weakened.
Their bench only had seven substitutes on it – rather than the maximum nine – because the squad has been so badly ravaged by contract stand-offs and injury.
Jeff Hendrick, Phil Bardsley, Aaron Lennon and Joe Hart, whose contracts all expire on June 30, were missing and the unknown names of Max Thompson and Bobby Thomas appeared.
Dyche is frustrated with the board’s
handling of the situation and the players have refused contract offers for the rest of the season because the hierarchy would not sanction longer-term deals.
Guardiola’s only selection issue was who to leave out and he could afford to start Raheem Sterling, Aymeric Laporte and Kevin De Bruyne on the bench.
It was the predictable one-way traffic and Bernardo Silva wastefully blazed wide right-footed after being played in by David Silva.
The Portuguese made amends when City took a short corner on the right and he found Foden lurking unmarked 25 yards out, who cracked home an unstoppable left-footed drive past Nick Pope on 22 minutes.
While many players have struggled since football’s restart, Foden has hit the ground running and he also scored from the bench against Arsenal.
Three minutes before the interval it was 2-0 as Fernandinho found Mahrez with a superb long pass and the Algerian turned Charlie Taylor inside out before shooting home past Pope.
A 12th clean sheet of the season for the England goalkeeper had never looked likely but the floodgates were open.
Burnley were beaten and Mahrez added his second and City’s third from the penalty spot in the third minute of first-half stoppage time when the hosts were awarded a spot-kick by VAR for a foul by Ben Mee on Sergio Aguero, which forced the striker out of the action.
As devastating as City were, Burnley’s defending was poor and they again left Foden in too much space from a short corner.
He fed Bernardo Silva on the left, who centred for David Silva to slide in and score the fourth on 50 minutes.
City scored five at home to Burnley for the third match in succession when Gabriel Jesus touched Bernardo Silva’s cross on for Foden to convert his second on a good night for him and his team.
MANCHESTER CITY (4-3-3): Ederson 6; Cancelo 6, Fernandinho 7 (Laporte 61, 6), Otamendi 6 Zinchenko 6; FODEN 9 (Sane 80), Rodri 7, Silva 7; Mahrez 8 (De Bruyne 61, 7), Aguero 6 (Jesus 45, 6), Bernardo Silva 6. Subs: Walker, Sterling, Gundogan, Mendy, Carson.
BURNLEY (4-4-2): Pope 6; Lowton 6, Tarkowski 6, Mee 5, Taylor 6; Brownhill 5, Westwood 6, Cork, 6 MCNEIL 7; Rodriguez 5 (Pieters 60, 5), Vydra 5 (Thompson 88).
Subs: Peacock-farrell, Long, Dunne, Thomas, Jensen.
REFEREE: Andre Marriner 6.