Manchester City beat Burnley by doing exactly enough. The 1:0 victory has ensured the title is still within our hands as we enter the final 2 games of the Premier League Season. The Defence Ederson One great save at the feet of Wood. Several great and calm pieces of distribution. Happy to be involved and driving this team on through example. Has been imperious in a run of games and looks solid every time. No better keeper in the Premier League. Player Rating 8 Kyle Walker A little less sure footed than we have seen recently. Was not exposed or caught out but too much went astray and there was less driving forward throughout the match. Not sure if it was the absence of having Bernardo immediately in front of him which caused the problems. But for such a fast player he seemed to slow so much of our attack down. Was willing him to spend the last 25 minutes in the corner with the ball though. Player Rating 6 Vincent Kompany His authority was needed today against a physical front line which wanted the ball in the air at all times. Was caught a little flat footed once or twice and also his passing was careless. There is a school of thought that as he is the weakest passer at the back opposition teams are happy to let him have the ball. The slower pace of the game suited Kompany today and he controlled the defence well in the face of pressure. Player Rating 8 Aymeric Laporte His early passes went to far off places un-populated by City players. Still his intervention against a determined Burnley side was critical as we sought to control the ball. Whilst Otamendi seems to enjoy this kind of football, Laporte always seems to be unhappy with the fact the ball is in the air and he is having to lower himself to lesser football. Player Rating 6 Oleks Zinchenko I shall start by saying I love Zinky but this was not his best game. Did not overlap with Sane much and instead they both found themselves in the same narrow space. Defensively he was neither making tackles nor marking the space and so found himself strangely ambivalent as the game went on around him. Will hopefully have better moments. Player Rating 6<doc-sep>The Reds need City to drop points in any of their last three games to stand a chance of winning the title and the leaders next face the Clarets - and it bodes well Following Manchester United’s failure to do Liverpool a favour by taking points off Manchester City, Burnley are now the Reds’ next hope. City tightened their grip on the Premier League title race with a 2-0 victory at Old Trafford on Wednesday, putting them one point ahead of the Reds with both sides having three games left this season. 6 City cleared a massive hurdle in their pursuit for the title The reigning champions have the edge but will go into their remaining games knowing that Liverpool will be ready to pounce on any slip-ups they make. By the time City play next on Sunday, it’s likely that they’ll be second again as Liverpool play already relegated Huddersfield at Anfield on Friday night. The Citizens have a much tougher game as they face Burnley at Turf Moor. Burnley were actually one of the few teams to take points off City last season with a 1-1 draw at home to Pep Guardiola’s men in February 2018, although City still won the title at a canter. LATEST PREMIER LEAGUE NEWS GLORY Now Capoue and Foyth have shown Kane what can happen if you leave Tottenham NEWS Woeful De Gea stat, Solskjaer 'not at Man United's level', Rashford abused after final LIVE Transfer news: Poch Tottenham talks, £18m Leicester deal, Bayern sign English defender Finished Solskjaer ‘not Man United standard’ with Conte ideal replacement after final loss DRAMA Man United stunned by Villarreal as Solskjaer's search for silverware goes on TRANSFER West Ham target another Czech signing, while Vladimir Coufal begins contract talks gone Conte leaves Inter: Spurs would be 'match made in hell' due to 'trail of carnage' rebuild How Arsenal can learn from Chelsea and Man United to reach Champions League again Liverpool fans might take heart from the fact Clarets boss Sean Dyche actually grew up a Reds supporter, naming Kenny Dalglish as his favourite player. In the lead up to Burnley’s trip to Anfield in March, Dyche said: “I was a 70s child so everyone was a Liverpool fan but I lived in Kettering so I couldn’t get up there all the time, I was a distant Liverpool fan. “My first recollection of them was at seven years old, then at about eight or nine when you start zooming in on what it’s really about. “You start getting your favourite players, mine was King Kenny – as a kid why wouldn’t he be your favourite player? 6 Can Dyche help his boyhood club out on Sunday? “[Graeme] Souness as well, and Ray Clemence who I’ve met many times, what a fantastic player, no airs and graces. “That whole Liverpool thing was quite a powerful thing in the 70s.” LIVE ON talkSPORT talkSPORT is your home of live football! Here's what's coming up on talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2... Sheffield United vs Ipswich (Saturday, 5:15pm) – talkSPORT 2 Brighton vs Newcastle (Saturday, 5:30pm) – talkSPORT Norwich vs Blackburn (Saturday, 7:30pm) – talkSPORT 2 Leeds United vs Aston Villa (Sunday, 12pm) – talkSPORT 2 Coventry vs Shrewsbury (Sunday, 3pm) – talkSPORT 2 However, this crazy stat suggests Dyche and Burnley could do Liverpool a favour. The Clarets have been in the Premier League for four seasons and every time they’ve beaten the reigning champions from the previous campaign. Burnley 1-0 Manchester United (August 2009) Burnley’s first home game since they made their return to the top flight of English football following a 33-year absence came in excellent fashion against Manchester United. United had actually won the league the previous three years but could do nothing about Robbie Blake’s beautifully struck volley on a memorable night at Turf Moor. 6 Blake celebrates his winner against United However, that was about as good as it got for the Clarets as they went straight back down to the Championship in a campaign that also saw former manager Owen Coyle leave mid-season for Lancashire rivals Bolton. Burnley 1-0 Manchester City (March 2015) But Burnley got back into the big league for the 2014/15 campaign and inflicted a 1-0 defeat on United’s rivals Manchester City, who won the 2013/14 Premier League title. George Boyd’s crisp strike secured the win for Dyche’s men, however, Burnley were unable to avoid relegation, finishing 19th that season. 6 Boyd inflicted a surprise defeat on Manchester City Burnley 1-0 Leicester City (January 2017) They went straight back up though and yes, they beat the champions from the previous season, which was Leicester. Burnley left this one very late, with Sam Vokes scoring in the 87th minute but the Clarets managed to stay up this time. 6 Vokes turns away to celebrate his winner against Leicester Chelsea 2-3 Burnley (August 2017) The following season, Burnley started off with a bang by beating reigning champions Chelsea on their home turf. Burnley actually raced to a 3-0 lead at Stamford Bridge thanks to a Vokes brace and Stephen Ward’s lovely finish. Alvaro Morata and David Luiz pulled goals back in the second-half but the points belonged to Burnley. 6 Burnley caused a huge shock by beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge And if Burnley were to make it five wins against reigning champions, this would be their most significant one yet – especially as they lost 5-0 in October.<doc-sep>
The Blues boss has seen his side reach 92 points for the 2018-19 campaign, having recorded a record-breaking century when landing the crown last term Pep Guardiola has saluted his “incredible” Manchester City side after seeing them return to the top of the Premier League table with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Burnley. The defending champions are seeing the gauntlet thrown down to them by Liverpool this season. Jurgen Klopp’s side were in action on Friday and surged back to the summit with a 5-0 mauling of relegated Huddersfield. City needed to offer a response at Turf Moor, and did just that as Sergio Aguero’s 20th top-flight effort of the season saw the Blues to a narrow victory. A side which broke a number of records in 2017-18 by collecting 100 points and recording over a century of goals have found a way of replicating that form of late, winning 12 games in a row. Guardiola told BBC Sport of City’s latest Premier League success: “We didn't concede one shot on target or one corner, we are a small team but we are smart, in the first half the pitch was so dry and it was slow but in the second half we knew we had to score our goal. “We controlled the long ball and we had chances to score the second goal - in the last minutes anything can happen, always it is difficult if you cannot close the game. “In the first half we didn't create too much but of course it is what it is, we knew in these kind of games you play with intention and 92 points is incredible - it is in our hands, we must win our next two games and our next one against Leicester.” City are set to welcome Leicester to the Etihad Stadium on May 6, before wrapping up their campaign away at Brighton the following Sunday. They then have the FA Cup final to come, but getting over the line in the title race is the sole focus for now. Guardiola is delighted to see his players buying into mindset, with a tough test overcome against Lancashire rivals Burnley. Article continues below He added to Sky Sports: “It's so important, we controlled very well [Ashley] Barnes and [Chris] Wood, we conceded two or three free-kicks and we controlled our position, the pitch was so dry and difficult to move the ball about, and three more points with two games left - an important victory. “We knew we just need to go forward, don't make fouls and concede as little as possible the fouls and corners. “We had a penalty not given - which I think is a penalty. We could have won by more distance, I'm so happy for the victory and now we have a week to prepare and hopefully we arrive at Brighton with the chance to be champions.”