Man City 3-1 Burnley: Deja vu as the Clarets suffer another one-sided defeat at the Etihad

A Julian Alvarez brace and a Rodri strike saw Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions stroll to a comfortable 3-1 win.

The one-sided loss means the Clarets have now shipped 43 goals in their last 12 visits to the Etihad. It was also looking like it would be 31 goals without a reply, but debutant David Fofana teed up Ameen Al-Dakhil for a late consolation.

More pertinently, Vincent Kompany’s men remain in 19th place but now sit seven points adrift of safety.

The Clarets made just one change to the side that drew 1-1 with Luton Town in their last outing before the winter break 19 days ago.

Sander Berge, who missed that game through illness, came back into the side in place of Josh Cullen, who dropped down to the bench.

Jordan Beyer, Hannes Delcroix and Charlie Taylor remain absent, but Aaron Ramsey returned to the bench.

Benson, meanwhile, was left out of Burnley’s squad once again amid continued speculation surrounding his future.

Anass Zaroury though, who has also been linked with a January exit, was named on the bench alongside new signing David Fofana.

Luca Koleosho and Nathan Redmond remain long-term absentees.

As for City, Kevin De Bruyne started for the first time since he suffered a hamstring injury at Turf Moor on the opening day of the season.

John Stones was also named in the starting line-up, while Erling Haaland returned on the bench after being absent through injury for two months.

Pep Guardiola made six changes in total from his side’s 1-0 win against Tottenham in the FA Cup.

The game’s first chance fell to the returning De Bruyne, who saw his 25-yard free-kick deflect narrowly over James Trafford’s crossbar.

While City were in total control of the game early on, the Clarets did look relatively comfortable.

But that all changed in the 16th minute when Julian Alvarez met Matheus Nunes’ cross to head home City’s opener from only a few yards out.

A second duly followed just six minutes later and it was Alvarez again, slotting beyond Trafford after being picked out by De Bruyne’s quick free-kick.

Burnley almost issued a response midway through the half when Wilson Odobert looked to play Lyle Foster through on goal, but Josko Gvardiol got across to make a crucial interception.

The hosts were having particular joy down their left flank, coming close to a third 10 minutes before the interval when Josko Gvardiol fired just wide after cutting inside his marker.

Burnley could have halved the deficit on the stroke of half-time when Foster was sent clear, but he curled agonisingly wide after cutting in from the left to create more space.

The game soon entered into damage limitation when City made it 3-0 with their first attack of the second-half, 25 seconds after the restart.

Rodri was the man to get it, sweeping home into the bottom corner after being teed up by Phil Foden on the edge of the Burnley box.

The Clarets squandered a golden chance to pull a goal back when Zeki Amdouni sprung the offside trap, only to wastefully shoot over when Odobert was in acres of space to the side of him and would have had a simple tap in.

Just prior to the hour mark, Kompany made a triple change - with debutant David Fofana getting his first taste of action alongside Connor Roberts and Aaron Ramsey.

The changes also saw Burnley shift to a back five, with Roberts playing at left wing-back, in a bid to get some sort of foothold in the game.

It was all too little, too late though, with the game already well and truly done with by that point, as City saw out the remainder of the game with ease.

Burnley did still find time though to add a late consolation courtesy of Ameen Al-Dakhil, who tapped home from virtually on the goalline following some great play by Fofana.

TEAMS

Man City: Ederson, Lewis, Stones, Ake, Gvardiol, Rodri (Kovacic), Nunes, De Bruyne (Haaland), Foden (Grealish), Doku, Alvarez (Gomez)

Subs not used: Ortega, Dias, Walker, Bernardo, Bobb

Burnley: Trafford, Vitinho, O'Shea, Ekdal (Massengo), Al-Dakhil, Brownhill, Berge, Gudmundsson (Ramsey), Odobert (Zaroury), Amdouni (Roberts), Foster (Fofana)

Subs not used: Muric, Cullen, Cork, Bruun Larsen

Referee: Sam Barrott