Manchester City are positioning themselves for another run at the Premier League title, cruising to a 3-1 win over Burnley at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Vincent Kompany stated before kick-off that his own charges would have to be perfect in order to stage an upset in Manchester, and in the end they were far from that.
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City started the match the quicker of the two teams, forcing a number of half-chances early on, and they were given a reward in the 16th minute.
Matheus Nunes played a clever pass in the air which Julian Alvarez was able to get on the end of and beat the keeper with a header from close range.
Just four minutes later it was 2-0 as Kompany’s former teammate, Kevin de Bruyne, provided a perfect assist to Julian Alvarez, who was on-hand to get his second goal of the game.
The Belgian’s free-kick was whipped in expertly, and Alvarez slotted his right-footed shot into the bottom left corner of the net.
Haaland returned to the pitch
Matheus Nunes would waste a good chance shortly before the half-time interval, making space for himself inside the penalty area before powering a strike straight at James Trafford, with the former Blues stopper making a smart save.
If Burnley were given a rousing team-talk by their coach, any good work was undone within one minute of the restart as Manchester City went 3-0 up.
Rodri collected a pass inside the penalty area and he fired an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner of the net, all but signaling the end of the match for Burnley.
The visitors were able to pull a solitary goal back in injury-time at the end of the second-half with Chelsea loanee David Datro Fofana playing a clever pass in behind to Ameen Al Dakhil who was able to steer a shot into the net.
A further bright moment for the hosts was the return of Erling Haaland, who came on as a second-half substitute, after missing almost two months of action.
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