Burnley vs Man City: Five things we learned as Pep Guardiola’s side claim ninth straight win

Manchester City eased to a 2-0 victory over Burnley to extend their win streak to nine straight games in the Premier League.

There were not even three minutes on the clock when the first goal went in, with Nick Pope fumbling Bernardo Silva’s shot and Gabriel Jesus heading into the empty net from close range.

The away team completely dominated the opening 45 minutes and added one further goal, Raheem Sterling tapping in after Ilkay Gundogan’s cross - while Burnley didn’t manage a single shot.

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Sterling should have netted another after the restart, Pope saving a one-on-one, while Riyad Mahrez had an effort chalked out for offside. City still had plenty of control despite failing to add to their tally and go three points clear at the top once more.

Here are five things we learned from the match.

City slickers

There is no team to touch Man City right now, with form and confidence, organisation and consistency. Pep Guardiola’s team have won nine in a row in the league, but it’s also 13 in a row in all competitions.

It’s of course the team as a whole which is playing well and getting results, but within the unit there are a handful of obvious stand-outs.

Riyad Mahrez was tremendous on the night, but so too were the recent stars Ilkay Gundogan, Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva.

All three have been hugely important in the recent run and Burnley simply couldn’t get near them in possession, nor stop what they did with the ball.

Burnley form

After unexpected back-to-back wins over Liverpool and Aston Villa, the last couple of outings have been a bump back to earth for Sean Dyche’s team.

They were entirely dominated by Chelsea and beaten with ease, without a single shot on target - and it was a copy-and-paste affair here.

The facts are that the result leaves Burnley still in 15th, a point above Brighton who are just above the relegation zone.

The truth goes beyond the numbers, however: there’s simply no danger of the Clarets being relegated. The gap will only increase between themselves and West Brom or Fulham, and few should expect even the likes of Newcastle to be in touching distance come game 38.

Sterling 400 not out

Raheem Sterling wasn’t as his most effective, and on another night might have had a hat-trick.

One close-range finish was taken, but he should have netted his one-on-one in the second half and that came after Pope had come out on top of a foot-race to the ball, where a left-footed clip would have surely seen the ball roll into an empty net from range.

But on what was his 400th senior club game at age 26, Sterling was the constant outlet, a regular counter threat, a scheming dribbler and a relentless worker. He’s a match-winner when not even at the very top of his game, but once he’s back there - and he will be sooner or later - he remains genuinely elite.

City’s incredible defensive run

In a traditional - or cliched - sense, Burnley are thought of as well-organised, defensively strong, rigid and tough to break down. Compared to Man City of late, they are as porous as West Brom.

Across this run of nine straight league wins, City have conceded precisely one goal: an injury-time consolation goal to Chelsea. Since that largely irrelevant Callum Hudson-Odoi goal, Ederson has been ferociously protected, to the extent of having next to nothing to do each game.

In six games since that goal, they’ve kept six clean sheets against Brighton, Palace, Villa, West Brom, Sheffield United and now Burnley - with the shots on target count in each case tallying one, zero, four, one, one, zero.

Incredible consistency which sets the platform for victory.

Pressure transfer

Manchester United might have thought they transferred an element of pressure to their local rivals with a 9-0 win over Southampton on Tuesday night.

If so, they were apparently mistaken, with this a composed, cool and clinical performance in retaliation, sending City three points clear once more. The goal difference is a little closer, true, but it will slowly re-open if the City defence continues as it is.

Instead, it’s now over to the challengers - or the champions, for they are one and the same. City’s next game is at Liverpool and the Reds face Brighton later on Wednesday night, knowing nothing but a win will be acceptable if they want the weekend clash at Anfield to have significant meaning.