FULL TIME: Burnley 1-2 Manchester City
And that’s that! Burnley scored a cracker, but City managed two scruffy ones, and Pep Guardiola’s side move to the top of the Premier League! For a couple of hours? For five hours? Or for longer? Only Liverpool and Chelsea can answer that later today. But that’s a great victory for City. They weren’t at their best - Burnley probably deserved something on the balance of play - but Sergio Aguero is a poacher supreme, and he’s earned City a precious three points in the title race!
90 min +4: A throw into the City box from the right. Barnes tries an overhead kick, and connects, but it flies straight at Bravo from close range!
90 min +3: Though here’s a chance for them to load the City box, as De Bruyne gifts them a free kick out on the right. The ball’s looped into the area. Bravo can’t collect. Keane heads weakly from six yards, straight into the back of Mee. Bravo finally catches.
90 min +2: Lowton scoops it long, but Otamendi mops it up. The home side, who have battled so hard, look to be spent at long last.
90 min +1: Navas probes down the right, but is stopped in his tracks by a marvellous tackle from Ward.
90 min: Robinson has another opportunity to hoick it long into the City box. Arfield nearly connects with a spectacular scissor kick, but he only bothers the fresh air around him. There will be four added minutes.
89 min: No hat-trick for Sergio Aguero. City’s two-goal hero is replaced by Jesus Navas, as Pep runs the clock down in the professional style.
88 min: Burnley are giving this a proper go. Barnes and Vokes combine well to bustle their way down the middle of the park. Barnes can’t quite get a shot away as he enters the box, but he does earn a throw. From that, Lowton crosses deep. Too deep. Goal kick for City, and the pressure is relieved.
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87 min: Robinson launches a long free kick into the City box from the centre circle. The ball drops to Boyd, whose low attempt at a volley is blocked. Hendrick has a go next, but that’s easily fielded. Hearts in City mouths there.
85 min: City take their time over a throw in the midfield. They’re clearly happy to keep hold of what they have. No point getting greedy. This will be a fine result if they can close it out.
83 min: Tarkowski turns Fernandinho with absurd ease in the midfield, and very nearly releases Vokes with a slide-rule pass down the left channel. Otamendi reads well and bundles out for a throw, though it should have been a corner. Burnley still manage to instigate a tatty rumble in the City area. Arfield tries to control and shoot, level with the far post and ten yards out, but Kolarov bravely puts himself in the road and City clear the danger. This is a good effort by Burnley. Whatever happens today, their displays at Turf Moor augur well for their chances of survival.
80 min: Sane looks to curl one into the top left from a position 30 yards along the inside-right channel. Nope! Meanwhile Burnley make their last swap of the afternoon: Ashley Barnes comes on for Defour.
78 min: Nolito, who is still bubbling away with righteous fury, is wisely replaced by Kevin De Bruyne.
76 min: Boyd and Sagna battle down the Burnley right. The ball pings off the City full back and out for a corner. He goes down looking for a foul that he’s not getting. So he won’t be around to defend the set piece. But no worries: it’s a total non event.
74 min: Nolito is penalised for nudging Mee in the back in the centre circle, and is booked for a petulant reaction. The free kick’s laid off to Defour, who lumps it into the mixer again. Keane once more rises to win a header. The ball’s going to squirm into the bottom right, but Kolarov manages to knee the ball off the line and away from danger. Burnley are right back in this!
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73 min: Robinson launches long down the middle. Keane bustles around on the edge of the City box, forcing Kolarov to hack clear. Defour comes again down the right and crosses. Keane connects with a header this time, though it’s never going close to the target.
71 min: Otamendi comes clattering into the back of Arfield, just to the right of the City D. A free kick in a very dangerous position. Burnley load the box, but Defour wafts a miserable set piece high into the area, allowing Bravo to claim with a yawn. Still, signs that this game isn’t quite over yet.
70 min: City pass it around quite a lot. Suddenly Toure strokes a ball down the inside-right channel to tear clear. He cuts inside and chips over Robinson, and into the net. But he knew he was offside, and he’s booked. Then he applauds the referee sarcastically. He’s skating on thin ice here. But he gets away with that one. On another day...
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68 min: Ward finds a little space down the left, and whips one in towards Vokes and Boyd, but the City back line looks a lot more solid right now. Otamendi clears with purpose. Sport’s a state of mind.
66 min: Hendrick has the ball 25 yards from goal, and options either side, but he hesitates, allowing Otamendi to steal the ball and move upfield. He’s upended by Lowton, who is eventually booked for that one, but the referee allows play to continue, as City are sweeping upfield. Aguero, his tail up and very much desirous of a hat-trick, probes down the right. He thinks about a shot but wins a corner instead. The set piece finds Sane shooting 20 yards out, but the effort’s no good.
64 min: Nolito, out on the left, creams a fine pass down the channel to release Aguero on goal. But the City striker is a yard offside, and doesn’t bother complaining when the flag goes up.
63 min: A good response by Burnley, who earn a free kick midway into City territory. The ball’s pumped into the mixer, and falls to Hendrick, who tries to Marney a volley into the net from 30 yards. It balloons off a black shirt and out for a corner, which is wasted.
FARCICAL GOAL! Burnley 1-2 Manchester City (Aguero 60)
A comical melee on the Burnley penalty spot. Toure falls over. Fernandinho can’t get a shot away. Ward looks to clear, but he runs into Mee. They both topple to the floor. Fernandinho looks to chase the loose ball, which is threatening to go out to the right of goal. Keane tries to shepherd the ball out, but lets Fernandinho hook it into the centre, where it hits Aguero and flies into the bottom right! The striker knew nothing about that. A comedy of errors, but fine work by Fernandinho, and as things stand, City are going top of the league!
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58 min: Sterling is absolutely clattered by Mee in a fair but hard 50-50 challenge in the midfield. Ooyah, oof! He rolls about a bit, rubs his knee, then limps awhile, though he’s looking to come back on the field. But the board goes up. He’s hooked in favour of the very exciting Leroy Sane. His limp gets worse again as he makes his way back to the bench. City fans will hope that’s nothing serious, and he’s just trying to save face.
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56 min: A garden-variety hoof down the field suddenly finds Defour in acres of space down the right. He doesn’t trust himself to drive into the City box, though, checking instead and whipping a lame cross behind Vokes in the centre. A rare chance to worry City spurned.
55 min: Sterling is the business in open play, though. He’s everywhere. He earns another corner with a busy dribble down the right, though he’s not given it by the officials. He frowns quite a lot.
53 min: Sterling drops a shoulder and tries to make good down the right. He can’t get past Ward but earns a corner. He takes it himself, and it’s bloody awful. Once again, he can’t hoist the ball over the first man. On the touchline, Pep does a little jig, a snippet of contemporary dance that explores concepts of displeasure, frustration and irritation.
51 min: Toure one-twos with Nolito, 25 yards from goal. He has a whack at the target. And City rack up another three rugby points. A sense, however, that it’s just a matter of time before they break through. Burnley appear to have given up all pretence of attack, digging in for the long haul. Not sure it’s the wisest of ideas. We’ll see.
49 min: A free kick for City on the right. Sterling, very peppy right now, is in the heart of it all. He takes the set piece. But it’s godawful, failing to clear the first man. Nolito tries to rescue something from the wreckage with a shot from the edge of the box: that’s three rugby points! City, however, are very much on the front foot.
48 min: City are out of the blocks quickly in this second half. Sterling earns a corner down the right, though the set piece comes to naught. But Burnley are struggling to get out of their own final third. This could be a long half.
47 min: Sterling sashays down the right and rolls the ball inside for Aguero, who takes a touch, spins, and looks for the bottom left. Mee gets in the way to block.
And we’re off again! That was a very engaging first 45 minutes of toe-to-toe football. But it’s highly likely City smell blood. Can Burnley hold firm, like they did against Liverpool, sort of did against Everton, and nearly did against Arsenal? They’re out first, raring to go. They get the party re-started. “As a Blackburn fan, I can say that Paul Robinson’s delivery for Burnley’s first goal made me a bit nostalgic for Allardyce’s Rovers side back in the day,” writes Hugh Molloy. “With the height, and float, he gets on the ball, Robinson can land it on the edge of the box for a second-ball scrap from about three quarters of the pitch. It’s a real, if slightly unfashionable, weapon that we scored plenty from.”
Half-time reading: To whet your appetite for this evening’s big match in the Premier League, our man David Hytner recalls the most entertaining game of the 2015/16 season.
HALF TIME: Burnley 1-1 Manchester City
All in all, a decent half of football for a newly promoted side against some title contenders. But, given how things were going for the first 30-odd minutes, it won’t quite feel like that. City’s equaliser, and a couple of injuries, have taken the wind out of Burnley’s sail. Half-time’s come at the right moment for them, a chance to regroup, though no doubt Pep will appreciate the chance to give his slightly sleepy team a good talking-to as well. It should be a cracking second half. Don’t leave!
45 min +4: Otamendi is booked for questioning, in the full and frank style, a hand-ball decision down the right.
45 min +3: A bit of space for Lowton down the right. He whips a cross to the near post, where Vokes heads down towards the bottom right. Bravo smothers. That’ll cheer them up a bit; they’ve had a miserable ten minutes otherwise.
45 min +1: There will be four added minutes. Arfield, yet to get up to speed, lays a piss-poor square pass to Sterling in the midfield. Sterling should zip clean through on goal, but he hesitates and neither shoots nor finds Aguero by his side.
44 min: Burnley just want to hear the half-time whistle. They’d be chuffed with the final whistle, actually, but you get the general point.
43 min: Gudmundsson goes down now, grabbing the back of his left leg as he falls. There was nobody near him. He shakes his head, knowing full well that’s his hamstring gone. James Tarkowski comes on in his stead. It was looking so promising for Burnley only ten minutes ago; now it’s all falling apart at pace.
41 min: Before the corner can be taken, Marney goes down again, and this time he can’t continue. Burnley’s goalscorer troops off to warm applause, as he’s replaced by Arfield. City’s corner leads to nix.
39 min: Burnley were looking very confident, but their heads have dropped. Aguero finds a bit of space, 30 yards from goal, drops a shoulder to nudge the ball to his left, and curls a beauty towards the top left. It’s in all the way, but Robinson extends at full length to fingertip round the post! What a stunning save by the veteran!
GOAL! Burnley 1-1 Manchester City (Aguero 37)
Something goes City’s way! Sterling makes a lot of ground down the right, but can’t get a shot away when he enters the area. He can’t find Nolito in the middle, either. Both men are clattered, but there’s on penalty decision. No matter, though, because the ball had clanked out for a corner on the right, and a resulting scramble ends with Aguero popping up to poke a loose ball into the bottom-left corner from a couple of yards! That was brilliantly opportunistic, and City are level!
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35 min: Marney is booked for a cynical slide on Fernandinho in the midfield. Booking. From the set piece, Toure strides down the right and unleashes a pearler which cracks off the outside of the right-hand post! Goal kick, and nothing’s going City’s way right now.
33 min: A free kick for Burnley out on the left. Defour curls it into the area. Keane rises with a view to heading home from 12 yards, but Otamendi eyebrows it out for a corner on the right. From the corner, Bravo is unable to come and collect, blocked unfairly by Ward. No foul, which is a poor decision, but the ball flies out on the other side, the in-rushing Boyd unable to connect.
30 min: A long ball down the middle by City. It’s chested down by Toure, on the right of the Burnley D, a cushioned pass to Aguero. The striker sends a no-backlift snapshot towards the top right. Not quite: it’s high and wide. But that’s a decent effort out of very little.
29 min: Ward scoots down the left and very nearly releases Boyd into the City area with a low, diagonal ball. But Fernandinho reads the plan excellently, stepping in to intercept just in time. Wonderful defending.
27 min: A corner for City down the left. The ball ends up on the penalty spot, with Toure desperately trying to make space for a shot, with a tangle of claret shirts swarming around him. Eventually Keane prods the ball away from danger. City were threatening an equaliser there, but Burnley were the dictionary definition of determination.
26 min: Sagna attempts to shepherd the ball out of play down the Burnley left, for a goal kick. He allows they busy Boyd to hook a leg round, nearly guiding the ball to Vokes in the middle. City half clear. Gudmundsson plays the ball back into the box from the right. City allow it to bounce a couple of times, but it never falls for Boyd to take a shot. Otamendi finally does what City should have done a long time ago. Stones is gone, but they still look terribly shaky at the back.
24 min: Marney is down, getting a bit of attention. Looks like he’ll be OK, and the break allows his team-mates, who have been pressing and pressing and pressing, to take on some tasty water.
22 min: Boyd bustles down the left and wins a corner. City clear with ease and romp up the other end on a quick break. Sterling races down the right and feeds Toure on the inside. Toure miscontrols, the ball breaking through to Robinson. But Burnley were light there. A better ball by Sterling, or a better touch by Toure, and City had many options, with Aguero and Nolito free along the line to their left.
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20 min: Toure makes like Clichy down the left, reaches the by-line, and cuts back for Nolito, who looks to curl one into the bottom right. Robinson is wise to his game and smothers it.
18 min: That goal’s shaken City back into action. They’re hogging the ball again. Clichy makes a bit of space down the left and very nearly finds Aguero in the centre. The ball pinballs around for a while. Fernandinho and Nolito take snapshots which are blocked. Burnley scramble clear.
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16 min: City look to respond instantly, Sterling embarking on a power skedaddle down the inside-right channel. For a second it looks as though he’s going to skin Mee, but he’s forced to go on the outside and has to settle for a corner. The resulting set piece isn’t anything to write home about. It ends up in Robinson’s arms. The old boy is enjoying his comeback so far!
WHAT A GOAL! Burnley 1-0 Manchester City (Marney 14)
This is an astonishing goal! Robinson hoicks a long ball straight down the middle. On the edge of the area, Otamendi rises and clears. The header’s not bad, but it drops to Marney, 30 yards out. He steps ahead of Toure, and volleys the sweetest shot into the bottom left! That’s an absolute screamer, and you’ll not see a better goal all season!
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13 min: Gudmundsson picks up possession down the Burnley right. He swans past a half-interested Fernando, cuts inside and lashes a shot towards the bottom right. Bravo is behind that all the way. The sun’s causing a few problems when the ball goes high. Burnley will think about pumping a few big ones into the City box.
12 min: So having said that, it’s gone a little bit scrappy. Burnley are unlikely to mind. City were stroking it around nicely during the opening exchanges, but passes aren’t sticking right now.
10 min: Burnley, after a slow start, are pressing City hard. Sagna is panicked into the concession of a corner on the left. Nothing comes from the set piece. This is a nice, lively start.
7 min: Action at both ends. A free kick out on the Burnley left is pumped into the City box. Otamendi and Hendrick come together. The former shoves the latter in the back. The latter ends up face down on the turf. He claims a penalty, but he’s not getting it. He should, though. A big moment. City sail up the other end, Aguero cutting in from the left and fizzing a shot towards the bottom left. Robinson does very well to tip the ball round the post. Nothing comes from the resulting corner. Well, well.
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6 min: Nolito snoozes in the centre circle, allowing Boyd to hare off down the left. He lays off for Defour, whose low cross into the City box doesn’t find Vokes. Promising for the home side, though.
4 min: Burnley are struggling to keep hold of the ball at the minute. City passing it around quite a lot. No great surprises here.
2 min: But City have started quickly. Fernandinho, on the edge of the Burnley D, cushions a header to the right where Toure lashes over wildly from 12 yards.
And we’re off! City get the ball rolling. It’s Burnley keeper Paul Robinson’s first match for two years and two months, since he turned out for Blackburn Rovers in the Championship. God speed, sir. He gets his first touch after 55 seconds, Marney screwing a dreadful ball from right to left across the front of his own area, Ward guiding it back to his keeper under pressure from Aguero. That’ll settle the nerves.
The teams are out! It’s a cold, crisp, sunny day in Lancashire. A gorgeous sight as the sunbeams flicker across a famous old stadium. A lot of bobble hats in the stands. Burnley are in their famous claret shirts, while City are in second-choice black. The same strip they wore when winning here 6-1 in 2010, more or less. And when they lost 1-0 in 2015, to be fair. We’ll be off in a minute!
And so does Pep! “It is my first time here. It was my first time at Stoke City, first time at West Brom. It’s why I am a lucky guy, coming here to England to discover it. We have 22 players, so I use 22 players. I have confidence in my team. We have had just two days to recover, so we needed to use fresh legs.”
Sean Dyche speaks! “At this level, Turf Moor is hardly going to be a fortress. But over time we’ve made it a tough place to come. We’re still looking to address our away form in this league, but our home form has been nice and solid, and there’s been some good performances. City are top of the top, I think. They’re a fine, fine side. They’re definitely a force to be reckoned with.”
Burnley make two changes to the team which went down dismally at West Brom. Former Leeds United keeper Paul Robinson makes his debut, with Tom Heaton suffering from a calf injury. George Boyd meanwhile comes in for Scott Arfield, who drops to the bench.
Manchester City meanwhile give John Stones time and opportunity to have a good, calm, long, considered think about things. He’s one of five changes to the side that drew against Borussia Mönchengladbach midweek. Ilkay Gundogan is also nowhere to be seen, while Jesus Navas, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva kick back in the dugout. Taking their places: Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy, Fernando, Nolito, and last weekend’s two-goal hero Yaya Toure.
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This afternoon's teams
Burnley: Robinson, Lowton, Keane, Mee, Ward, Gudmundsson, Marney, Defour, Boyd, Hendrick, Vokes.
Subs: Flanagan, Gray, Barnes, Kightly, Tarkowski, Pope, Arfield.
Manchester City: Bravo, Sagna, Otamendi, Kolarov, Clichy, Fernandinho, Fernando, Sterling, Toure, Nolito, Aguero.
Subs: Zabaleta, Caballero, Jesus Navas, De Bruyne, Sane, Silva, Iheanacho.
Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands).
The weekend starts here!
Sean Dyche’s newly promoted Burnley have already seen off Liverpool and Everton this season. They came away from Old Trafford with a point, and were very unlucky to lose at Turf Moor to Arsenal. On the other hand, they’ve been walloped for three goals by Chelsea and Leicester, and were soundly battered 4-0 by West Bromwich Albion on Monday night. So which Burnley will turn up this lunchtime? Good luck making that call.
Mind you, Manchester City haven’t exactly been models of consistency lately either. They won their first 10 competitive fixtures this season, then went six without a victory. They’ve dropped scrappy points at home to Everton, Southampton and Middlesbrough, and conceded three to a Brendan Rodgers team in Europe, for goodness sake. Their midweek Champions League fixture at Borussia Mönchengladbach illustrated their up-and-down tendencies perfectly: they were appalling in defence, and outplayed for large chunks of the game, but scored a goal of crisp, incisive, intelligent beauty and came away with the result they required. Which City will we see today? Good luck making that call.
So anything could happen here. This promises to be a lot of fun. Can Burnley cause another Turf Moor shock and move into the top half of the table? Or will City do what’s expected of them and go top, for at least a couple of hours, maybe many more? We’ll know soon! It’s on!
Kick off: 12.30pm GMT.
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