MANCHESTER City continued their charge towards the Premier League title with victory at Turf Moor to move Pep Guardiola’s side top of the table and relegate Burnley back to the Championship.
City have hit form at the right time and are looking in ominous mood, clawing back nine points on Arsenal in less than two weeks to narrowly climb to the summit on goals scored.
Guardiola’s men had not been in the number one spot since the opening week of the campaign, but an 11-game unbeaten streak has led to them overtaking the Gunners with five games left.
Top scorer Erling Haaland grabbed the opener after just five minutes, running clear following Jeremy Doku’s pass and dinking a delightful finish over the advancing Martin Dubravka, and he struck the post in the second half.
The visitors could have scored moments before but the excellent Rayan Cherki’s thumping effort was brilliantly tipped on to the crossbar by Dubravka.
The Clarets, meanwhile, had their chances to prolong an inevitable ending to the season – Jaidon Anthony cutting inside and curling a shot at goal which was pushed away by Gianluigi Donnarumma, while Zian Flemming dragged wide from a promising position.
But the loss means Scott Parker’s side will join bottom club Wolves in the second tier next season, dropping down into the Championship for the second time in three years.
This season may well be decided by the finest of margins and Wednesday’s result at Turf Moor provided an indication of that as City moved top on the third tie-breaking metric, behind points and goal difference.
City possess the experience of getting over the line during a tight title race and know that victory in all their remaining five games might still not be enough – if Arsenal manage to do the same and outscore them.
But Guardiola’s troops are marching towards a seventh crown in nine years as they are now unbeaten in their past 11 top-flight games – last suffering defeat against rivals Manchester United in January – and winning three in a row.
Norway striker Haaland enjoys facing Burnley and scored his eighth goal in five games against the Clarets with an early strike which had an air of inevitability about it once he ran through on goal.
Parker is a specialist at taking teams up to the Premier League, having done so three times during his managerial career, but it remains to be seen whether he will be given the opportunity to do so again next season.
