City Watch: Blues ease past Burnley

Manchester City faced Burnley at the Etihad over the weekend following their draw away at Arsenal the week prior. 

Before we talk about the game against the Clarets, the Blues began their League Cup campaign against Huddersfield on Wednesday last week.

I don’t want to cover the game against the Terriers too much, as if you watched the game, you’ll know it wasn’t the most exciting. 

City dominated the game in every aspect, eventually winning 2-0 following goals from Phil Foden and Savinho.

Foden very much ran the game in Yorkshire, and although I don’t want to get too excited as it was against a League One side, he does seem to be returning to top form. 

Following the game, the draw for the next round was conducted, and City will play Swansea away from home at the end of October.

Moving onto the Burnley game, I didn’t really know what to expect from this. A couple of seasons ago, I wouldn’t have even thought twice about it being a win, especially as the Blues went on a streak of beating Sean Dyche’s Clarets team 5-0 every time we played them at the Etihad.

Any fears of a ‘banana skin’ were at the front of my mind at half time, with the score sitting at 1-1 despite City absolutely dominating the game. Mine and other City fans’ fears quickly vanished as City scored two goals in five minutes early on in the second half.

With the game balanced at 3-1, Erling Haaland stepped up following a quiet game and scored two goals in three minutes right at the end. 

For anyone who plays Premier League Fantasy, you’ll understand the pain I was going through watching Haaland ghosting for 88 minutes, especially as I triple captained him this week.

It was also great to see Kyle Walker back at the Etihad with his new team, and although he didn’t have the best of games, the fans gave him a fantastic reception, always great to see.

City now face two more games before the next international break, another two weeks of no club football to look forward to. 

By the time this column is in the paper, City will have played their second Champions League fixture against AS Monaco.

The last time the Blues played the French side, it didn’t go according to plan, as they knocked us out of the competition in the round of 16. 

I guess they did have Kylian Mbappe, Bernardo Silva, Radamel Falcao and even more stars at the time, so maybe it’s not so much to worry about.

Pep’s side will also travel to London for their Premier League game against Brentford on Sunday just before the break, and after watching what they did to the other Manchester club last weekend, that game honestly worries me slightly!