4 he’s a jolly good fellow

Brilliant Aguero hits double to revive talk of the City quadruple

MANCHESTER CITY fans all stood and applauded David Silva after 21 minutes — his shirt number — as a show of support in a difficult time following the premature birth of his baby.

He repaid them by leading an impressive City comeback win that ensures talk of a unique quadruple will continue.

‘David is a legend for the club,’ said Pep Guardiola afterwards about his inspirational captain. ‘For what he’s done with his quality, his technical ability.’

Silva has missed recent matches, allowing him time in Spain to help care for his son.

With the latest prognosis more optimistic, Silva declared himself available for yesterday’s FA Cup third-round tie, flying back to Manchester on Friday afternoon and wearing the armband in Vincent Kompany’s absence with pride.

City weren’t their normal rampaging selves, in the middle of a run of 16 matches in 69 days, and hadn’t registered a shot on target in the opening 56 minutes, trailing to an Ashley Barnes strike following a mistake by John Stones.

But Silva continued to lead by example, passing the ball, and within 94 seconds, City had turned the match around.

The equaliser was contentious, Burnley caught out by Ilkay Gundogan’s quick freekick to Sergio Aguero, who broke clear to fire past the previously untroubled Nick Pope.

It caused Sean Dyche to bellow at the officials that referee Geoff Scott should have blown his whistle to signal the kick, and Pep Guardiola intervened by hopping about and gesturing that Dyche should stop yapping.

‘If they are upset, I am so sorry,’ said the City boss. Dyche wasn’t bothered, however. ‘ Everyone is allowed to be passionate,’ he said.

The pair had barely stopped squabbling when City scored again. Aguero passed to Gundogan, who backheeled a return to Aguero, and the Argentine easily rounded Pope to slot his 18th goal of the season.

‘Once they are in front, it’s difficult,’ grimaced Dyche. No kidding.

The previously frustrated Leroy Sane made it 3-1 by collecting a trademark Silva pass that took out two defenders. As an encore, Guardiola brought on Kevin De Bruyne.

Bernardo Silva then replaced Sergio Aguero and scored within two minutes, set up by Sane after Pope had dashed from his goal again.

City are still hot in four competitions, though Guardiola once again gave little credence to the idea of a historic season in the offing.

‘It’s early in the season for that, January. The important thing is to be strong, to have a good mentality. We want to continue in all the competitions and it’s how you react that is important.

‘ John Stones made a mistake, that’s not the problem, it’s how he reacted. Not with his face on the floor, the opposite.’

Indeed, Stones must have wished the ground would swallow him up for his part in Burnley’s opener. Pope’s long clearance was flicked on by Sam Vokes and Stones sliced a routine clearance up in the air and into the path of Barnes.

He nodded the ball down for himself, ran a bit further and lashed a right-foot finish past Claudio Bravo in front of 7,000 travelling fans.

Burnley have had some decent away results at Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs this season, but City have so many match-winners even when below their best. Aguero has stepped up to the plate with Gabriel Jesus injured and to follow up one goal with another so quickly was a killer blow against the Clarets. ‘That can happen here,’ said Dyche. ‘That constant concentration and focus is hard.’

Aguero has had the odd hissy-fit when dropped or subbed at City but Guardiola knows the carrot works better than the stick with the club’s record goalscorer.

‘ It’s an honour for me to have him,’ said the City boss. ‘He always wants to play and I understand when he’s sad if he doesn’t. His quality in the box is amazing and we need his goals.’

Expectations are rising now: they have a Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Bristol City on Tuesday, and next month the Champions League returns with nobody wanting to face Pep’s men.

Their luck is in too: their next league game is at Liverpool — now minus Philippe Coutinho.