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Key events
50 mins: For a moment it looks lik Flemming’s flick is going to release Anthony, but Khusanov and Matheus Nunes combine to snuff out the chance at the expense of a corner.
49 mins: Cherki runs with the ball towards the Burnley area from halfway before passing a little too far ahead of Semenyo, who stretches to control and then stretches again to shoot over the bar.
47 mins: Burnley give the ball away in their defensive third, but City only convert it into an optimistic Semenyo shot, which hits a defender before it can not particularly worry Dubravka.
46 mins: City do in the end turn up, allowing Burnley to restart the game.
Burnley’s players are back out, and waiting for City to turn up for the second half.
In tonight’s other Premier League game it’s currently Bournemouth 0-0 Leeds United. Niall McVeigh is providing regular updates from that one, and games across the Football League, here:
Just the 66% of possession for City, and 13 shots (six on target) to Burnley’s five (one). By almost any metric it’s been extremely one-sided. But for all that Flemming has twice been played clean through, or near enough. There’s not a lot of hope here for Arsenal, but there isn’t none either.
Half time: Burnley 0-1 Manchester City
45+3 mins: That is half time, and City take a slender lead into it.
45+1 mins: There’ll be two minutes of stoppage time, and they start with a free-kick on the right and then, when it’s sent into the area but refuses to drop to either Humphreys or Ekdal, a corner.
45 mins: Quite an odd half of football, this: 10 wild minutes at the start, and then 35 that have largely involved City players passing the ball slowly between themselves.
42 mins: A lovely through ball to Doku, who crosses towards Haaland, but Esteve gets there first and clears. Haaland roars with frustration. He’s not in the defender-gets-there-first business.
39 mins: A fifth corner for City. They’re absolutely bossing this game, but Burnley have also had two or three decent chances, so there’s life in it yet. For now.
37 mins: Cherki has a bad first touch. I repeat, we have witnessed a mildly disappointing first touch from Rayan Cherki.
35 mins: Cherki goes on a 70-yard run into the area before trying to tee up Haaland, but the striker went to the far post rather than the near and Burnley clear. Then Bernardo Silva taps back to Ait-Nouri, who has little time but for all that it’s a fine chance, which he profoundly wastes.
32 mins: He’s OK, and play resumes with a City corner, which Tchaouna clears.
31 mins: Dubravka is down, and Burnley’s physios run on and look earnestly at his right knee.
29 mins: Then Burnley break, Tchaouna finds a pass through to Flemming, but his first touch is not great and his second is wild, a left-foot shot, taken as Khusanov slides in, that sent the ball extraordinarily high.
28 mins: Save! After two superb quickfire exchanges of passes on the edge of the area, Cherki involved in both, the ball is laid off to O’Reilly, whose shot from the edge of the area is pushed away.
27 mins: And back to slow passing from City. This is just remorseless domination.
25 mins: The corner is sent beyond the far post, where O’Reilly heads goalwards. Dubravka is there and it has no chance of going in, but it’s another shot on target.
24 mins: They do end all that possession with a shot, though. Bernardo Silva with it, and it deflects wide.
23 mins: City have controlled the last few minutes. They’re in no hurry whatsoever, the game being played at walking pace.
20 mins: Another blocked City shot, and this time it’s Bernardo Silva doing the shooting and Haaland doing the accidental blocking. Plus, he’s offside..
19 mins: Another Cherki effort, the Frenchman picked out on the right of the area by Bernardo Silva and cutting inside, but his shot hits a defender.
16 mins: Burnley should score! It’s a lovely pass from Walker to Flemming, who checks rather than continuing into the box, delays his shot, delays it a bit more, notices Donnarumma falling over, and then shanks his shot feebly wide.
15 mins: A nice, fluent move from City, featuring a particularly neat Haaland flick, ends with things nearly but not quite opening up for Cherki.
13 mins: A few minutes without anyone nearly scoring, after an absurd opening 10 minutes. “I have something of a soft spot for Burnley,” admits Hasan. “Is it because they’re a team with genuine footballing pedigree? Is it because they deserve better than the seemingly eternal no-man’s land of being too weak for top tier but too good for second tier football? Is it because they have a disgustingly handsome manager? Well partly yes to all, but mainly it would have been nice if all three promoted sides had been able to swim instead of sink this time, especially after last season’s new fish all went back on the same shuttle bus in May. So I’m hoping against hope for a proper plot twist tonight.”
11 mins: “I keep reading that City will go top if when they win tonight,” notes Justin Kavanagh. “But there’s just one goal between them and Arsenal in the Goal Difference column. So what if it’s 0-1 to City tonight?” They are, as I type, level on points and on goal difference, but City have scored three more goals. So, they’re top.
8 mins: And now City nearly double their lead! Really, this is ridiculous. Haaland is in the area and in space again, but his shot hits a defender’s leg and goes over.
8 mins: Burnley nearly equalise within seconds of conceding, Hartman’s lovely touch nearly setting him up, but Khusanov throws himself in the way of the ball.
7 mins: It was a classy route one goal, really: a longish ball out of defence is brought down well by Doku, who turns, sees Haaland setting off between the centre-backs, and has a fairly simple job to set him free.
GOAL! Burnley 0-1 Manchester City (Haaland, 5 mins)
Now City do score! Haaland, released by Doku, runs clear of the defence, draws the keeper, and chips over his legs and into the net!
4 mins: Now City hit the post! Bernardo Silva gets to the byline, turns and passes to Semenyo, who passes on to Cherki, who has a phenomenal chance to put City ahead, but Dubravka somehow fingertips his shot onto the woodwork!
3 mins: Save! The first shot on target of the game comes from Burnley, for whom Anthony cuts inside Nunes and sends a curler towards the far post, which Donnarumma pushes away.
3 mins: Bernardo Silva runs towards the penalty area, and given that nobody seems inclined to challenge him he keeps going into the area, and he ends up with an excellent shooting chance. But all those defenders who didn’t challenge him had to be somewhere, and that turned out to be in the way of his shot.
1 min: Scott Parker has put on a grey top over his grey sweater. I think this calls his coaching credentials into question: can you be inspired by a man who seems obsessed with the colour grey?
1 min: Peeeep! City get the ball rolling.
Out come the teams! Can Burnley do Arsenal the biggest possible favour tonight, or are City going top and the Clarets down? It’s almost time to find out!
Just Rayan Cherki doing an outrageously ostentatious warm-up no-look pass*.
* Or at least that’s what it looks like, it’s just a photograph.
Scott Parker has an extremely brief chat. Important sartorial update: he’s gone with a grey cableknit sweater tonight, rather than a cardigan.
There ain’t no time to look in the future or look in the past. There’s a huge challenge tonight in front of the cameras and we’re representing a badge and they’re representing themselves. That’s the main challenge really.
Pep Guardiola has a chat with Sky Sports. He says he expects from Burnley “crosses, crosses, always crosses”. Interesting, given that Burnley are 20th in the Premier League this season on average number of crosses per game, and 61 of their crosses have been classified as key passes so far this season, more only than Sunderland and way behind Manchester City’s 79. Anyway, here’s a snippet of Guardiola:
You have to adapt. Huge respect for Burnley, of course. In the Premier League every game you have to do the proper, proper thing. Six games left, we have the opportunity to try to win the three points.
Pep Guardiola had promised changes tonight, but in the end there’s only one and that has been forced on him by Rodri’s injury. So Rayan Aït-Nouri comes in, which means Nico O’Reilly moves into midfield.
The teams!
Tonight’s lineups are in, and are here:
Burnley: Dubravka; Walker, Ekdal, Humphreys, Esteve, Hartman; Tchaouna, Ward-Prowse, Laurent, Anthony; Flemming. Subs: Broja, Edwards, Foster, Florentino, Lucas Pires, Tresor, Ugochukwu, Weiss, Worrall.
Manchester City: Donnarumma; Matheus Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, Ait-Nouri; Bernardo Silva, O’Reilly; Semenyo, Cherki, Doku; Haaland. Subs: Ake, Foden, Nico Gonzalez, Kovacic, Omar Marmoush, Savinho, Reijnders, Stones, Trafford.
Referee: Andy Madley.
VAR: Stuart Attwell.
Pre-match reading: Here’s Oliver Hopkins of Opta Analyst on the wonderful Bernardo Silva, who is leaving City at the end of the season and will be missed.
Preamble
Hello world! There are only two Premier League games tonight, but still it could be a pivotal day in the season. Arsenal have been top of the table since they beat West Ham 2-0 on 4 October*, fully 200 days ago by my count, and tonight they will be knocked off their perch if Manchester City win at Burnley.
How likely is that? Well, in City’s last five visits to Turf Moor in all competitions they have come out on top every time, and by an aggregate scoreline of 14-1. No wonder Pep Guardiola says he is “more relaxed than ever”, declaring that nerves are, like, so last season.
“Nervous was last season,” he said. See, I told you that’s what he said. “Pressure was last season. I could bring, as a manager, the team not in the Champions League. Now, I’m more relaxed than ever, even before Arsenal. The feeling is that we have done a really, really good season. Now is the moment to enjoy more than ever.”
A City win would also seal Burnley’s relegation, Scott Parker’s side having won only one league game since October, since when they have taken a miserable 10 points from 24 games.
In a worrying moment Parker revealed yesterday he has “sacrificed my family” to improve Burnley’s chances of success. The Lancashire Constabulary are yet to get involved, though, and it’s being widely assumed that he has not literally sacrificed them. He just means he has worked quite hard. Having said that, if any members of his family are reading this could they please get in touch, it would be hugely reassuring to hear from them.
“Since I’ve come here, I’ve put a Burnley shirt on and I’ve done absolutely everything in my power,” Parker said. “I dedicate everything. I sacrifice my family. I sacrifice a young 10-year-old who moves up and changes school. In fact, at times it’s probably unhealthy how hard I work. I work for just one cause and that’s for this club to try and be successful.”
And yet, he appears to be unpopular with the club’s fans. “I played football for 20 years and I’ve been relegated two or three times,” he added. “I’ve had poor performances but one thing there never, ever was, was a fan base that didn’t appreciate, didn’t absolutely worship [me] in terms of the way I played. That’s just who I am and it kills me that for times this year, that’s not been the case with the fans.”
* On the day Arsenal went top Spurs were third, having lost only one of their first seven games. *crying with laughter emoji”*
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