Sergio shows City can thrive without Gunner
will certainly be plenty of wailing in the sky blue part of Manchester when his time is up after making it a staggering 187 goals in 236 appearances.
He also helped ensure the headlines wouldn’t be dominated by another John Stones horror error which helped Burnley take a shock 25th-minute lead.
Nick Pope had launched a clearance and Stones should have had everything under control following a hopeful flick on from Sam Vokes. But the England man could only slice horribly into the path of Ashley Barnes.
The Burnley striker still had plenty to do, but he accelerated into the area and let fly with power and panache to bury his shot past Claudio Bravo and spark wild celebrations among the 6,700 travelling fans.
But cue Aguero to help extend City’s unbeaten record in domestic games to 32.
There were just 94 seconds between his two goals – the first in the 56th minute sending Burnley boss Sean Dyche into a frenzy.
A number of his players were still in conversation with referee Graham Scott over the award of a free-kick to City. But Ilkay Gundogan proved that actions speak louder than words with some quick thinking and quick feet to spot Augero’s run into the box and the striker did the rest .
Dyche and his assistant Ian Woan had words with Guardiola on the touchline but the City boss was remorseful at full-time.
He said: “I want to apologise. I said to them to leave the decisions to the referee, but I am so happy about the result.”
Dyche felt aggrieved that the kick was taken without the whistle being blown but added: “There’s no problem with Pep. You both want to win. Everyone is allowed to be passionate aren’t they?”
No efforts on target in the first 45 minutes had been a sobering fact for Guardiola to digest with any refreshments.
That was all forgotten as Burnley barely had time to heal their wounds and angst at City’s equaliser when that man Aguero was at it again.
This time a wonderful onetwo with Gundogan ended with an exquisite back heel from the German which saw Aguero in on goal. In one fluid movement he rounded Pope and slotted home his 15th of the season.
Like so many visitors to this neck of the woods this season Burnley then collapsed.
Leroy Sane, who missed a couple of inviting chances, rediscovered his mojo in the 71st minute to finish clinically after Pope had half-blocked a Danilo effort.
A fourth goal was harsh on Burnley, one that Pope won’t want to see replayed.
His rush of blood with eight minutes left saw him stranded outside his area when substitute Kevin De Bruyne freed Sane, leaving Bernardo Silva to side-foot home the winger’s pass.