Manchester City vs. Burnley: Score, Grades and Reaction to Premier League Game
Burnley put in a tremendous second-half performance at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday to claim a point against Manchester City with a 2-2 draw. The result prevented the Sky Blues from gaining ground on table-toppers Chelsea, who drew with Southampton earlier in the day.
David Silva and Fernandinho put the hosts up, 2-0, in the first half and City looked to be cruising to victory as they dominated Sean Dyche's men.
But a George Boyd goal early in the second half changed the game completely, and Ashley Barnes' deserved equaliser in the 81st minute saw the points shared come the final whistle.
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City started the brighter side, inevitably enjoying the majority of the possession and going close through Martin Demichelis and James Milner.
However, the visitors looked to wrestle back the initiative after a quarter of an hour and enjoyed a strong spell of possession, almost breaking the deadlock through a stinging Dean Marney strike before Danny Ings shot high and wide from outside the penalty area.
It then took a moment of magic from Silva to give the home side a 1-0 advantage in the 23rd minute.
The Sky Blues once again carved out space on the right-hand side before Jesus Navas pulled it back from the byline to Silva in the box, the Spaniard then turning beautifully and firing home, beating Tom Heaton at his near post.
It was a very fine piece of play from City's talisman, who has been invaluable for manager Manuel Pellegrini with his side suffering from a shortage of strikers, Silva having taken on the goalscoring responsibilities, per Squawka:
Having fallen behind, 1-0, Burnley's endeavour did not waver, but the Clarets could not find a quick equaliser to regain parity.
It was City who claimed the next goal of the match in the 34th minute—and potentially the knockout blow for Burnley—through a phenomenal long-range strike from Fernandinho.
Samir Nasri fed it to the Brazilian on the edge of the box. Fernandinho then set himself with a touch before curling a fizzing finish that bounced in off the crossbar to make it 2-0 to the home side, a lead which they took into half-time.
Minutes after the break, Burnley stunned a sluggish City as they grabbed a goal back through Boyd, the Englishman taking the faintest of touches on Ings' cross-cum-shot to put it past Joe Hart.
City had every right to feel aggrieved, as Boyd looked to be offside in the lead-up to the goal, but Hart himself should really have done better in attempting a save as the ball squeezed underneath him, per BBC Radio 5 live:
Burnley took great momentum from the goal and Ings should have done better when fed through on goal by Ashley Barnes, but the 22-year-old failed to sort his feet out quick enough to get a shot away.
Nasri then almost put the game to bed for City in the 56th minute, but his shot from the edge of the box was handled well by Heaton, who tipped it wide for a corner.
The atmosphere at the Etihad became markedly tense as the second half wore on, and it proved warranted when Barnes fired in the equaliser with 10 minutes to spare.
The former Brighton striker fielded a knockdown from a free-kick and rifled a shot past Hart into the top corner to draw the score level at 2-2.
Half chances fell to both sides in the dying minutes, but Burnley eventually succeeded in claiming an unlikely and invaluable point for the relegation candidates, while City will be kicking themselves for failing to take advantage of Chelsea's dropped points.
Grades
David Silva: A-
City's driving force over the last few games, Silva was once again tremendous at the Etihad on Sunday, particularly in the first half.
A constant thorn in the Burnley defence's side, his turn-and-shoot for the opening goal was simply brilliant and he continues to produce goals in the absence through injury of strikers Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko.
Jesus Navas: B
Navas was impressive on the flanks in the first half, beating Burnley's wide defenders on several occasions and creating space and chances, including the final ball for Silva's goal.
However, his delivery into the box was often lacking and—along with the vast majority of City's other players—he went missing somewhat as Burnley came back after the half-time break.
Ashley Barnes: A
Barnes was very much the inspiration behind Burnley's comeback as he linked up beautifully with Ings on several occasions and bossed City defender Eliaquim Mangala for the bulk of the match.
It was fitting that Barnes should score the vital equaliser—and some finish it was, too, per ESPN FC:
Dyche will be mightily encouraged by his excellent performance on Sunday.
Post-Match Reaction
Pellegrini bemoaned his side's loss of intensity in the second half as he addressed the media post-match, also pointing to the significance of Boyd being offside for Burnley's first goal, per The Independent's Ian Herbert, who also provided Dyche's comments on a positive performance from his men:
