City go top with narrow victory over Burnley

City go top with narrow victory over Burnley City have gone top of the Premier League after a 1-0 win over Burnley at Turf Moor. The winning goal came after just four minutes with Erling Haaland grabbing his 35th goal of the campaign, but despite numerous opportunities, the Blues had to settle for a narrow , but thoroughly deserved win. The Clarets are relegated as a result and City climb to the summit to end Arsenal’s 200 day-stint at the top.

The Game in 250 words City fairly flew out of the blocks, brimming with confidence and creativity. With only four minutes played, a lovely move involving Bernardo, Antoine Semenyo and Rayan Cherki saw the latter fire what seemed a certain goal only for Martin Dubravka to push onto the crossbar. A minute later and the Blues were ahead after a wonderful turn and threaded pass from Jeremy Doku set Haaland clear and the Norwegian kept his cool to calmly lift the ball over Dubravka to cap a whirlwind start.

But the alarm bells were ringing on seven minutes when Quilindschy Hartman looked certain to equalise with the Clarets exploiting space in the City box, but a fine, last-ditch Abdukodir Khusanov block saved the day. The Blues were bossing the majority of possession, but too many loose passes saw attacks fizzle out and the next big chance fell for Zian Flemming who wasted a good opportunity by screwing his shot well wide. The pattern continued after the break, but a powerful burst from Semenyo saw the ball fall to Haaland 15 yards out and his low shot kissed the outside of the left post.

A second goal felt crucial for the Blues. On 69 a nice interchange between Cherki and Marc Guéhi ended with a low cross that Haaland was a whisker away from connecting with from six yards out. Nico O’Reilly had a terrific chance to end the game as a contest in the closing minutes, but City saw the game out and got the job done.