6 April 3, 2022The Sunday TimesFootball Premier League
De Bruyne
watches as his
volley flys past
Pope in the
Burnley goalI
f the heat was turned up in the
Premier League title race at
2.20pm yesterday, when Man-
chester City slipped to second
place for the first time since the
start of December, it was brief.
By 3.05pm City were back on
top, any suggestion of implosion
from the mounting pressure of Liver-
pool — who had beaten Watford in the
lunchtime kick-off — snuffed out, for
now at least.
The brutality of it suggests that
Jürgen Klopp and his players will not
find their rivals an easy target after
clawing back what was a 14-point
deficit on January 15.
What felt significant was the
crushing efficiency of Pep Guardiola’s
players. If anyone in Merseyside
doubted their desire for a fourth
Premier League title in the past five
seasons, that hope was extinguished
with ruthless efficiency.
“I guess the players knew the
Liverpool result, but we travelled one
hour on a coach to do our job,” Guard-
iola said. “We have to feel the pressure
that every game we play, if we lose, we
are not going to win [the title].
“Hopefully Liverpool will lose
against us [when the sides meet on
Sunday] but apart from that I don’t
think they will drop points. We have to
feel this pressure and handle it. We did
it in the past. We won 14 games in a
row, now we have to win eight games.
Otherwise, we will not be champions.”
It took only five minutes for the
league table to return to what has
been its default position for most of
the campaign. The opening goal was
about the slickness of City, their desire
to move the ball from side to side —
despite the length of the grass, which
Guardiola complained about — and
then to cut through what was a partic-Martin HardySlick City swiftly reclaim top spot
ularly porous Burnley defence in the
absence of Ben Mee through injury.
Kyle Walker moved the ball from
right to left to João Cancelo. He gave it
back to Rodri, there was a lifted pass
to the excellent Raheem Sterling, on
the City right, then a first-time volley
inside. For some reason Burnley gaveKevin De Bruyne an acre of space in
the penalty area, and what followed
was a punched volley with the outside
of his right foot that flew into the top
corner of Nick Pope’s goal.
Pope saved low from another De
Bruyne shot but by the 25th minute
the second goal had arrived. This timeit was Cancelo who swept the ball left
to right, to Walker, who moved the
ball down the right to Sterling. There
was a one-two with De Bruyne and
then a pull-back to Ilkay Gundogan,
who, as with the first goal, punched in
a volley that flew through the legs of
Kevin Long and into the net.PETER POWELL/EPA
BURNLEY
0MANCHESTER CITY
De Bruyne 5, Gundogan 25^2There were chances for a third in
the second half. Rodri curled a shot
over the bar, Gundogan had a shot
parried away by Pope and then the
substitute Gabriel Jesus struck a post.
It was all so easy.
For Burnley, it was a day of further
deflation, a fourth successive defeat
without scoring. It is now 402 minutes
since they have found the net.
Josh Brownhill headed narrowly
wide in the fourth minute but it would
not be until the 75th that Ederson
was forced into a save, diving to his
right to catch a shot from the
substitute Jay Rodriguez.
Their position in the Premier
League table — second from bottom —
has felt familiar for most of the
campaign, as, once more, does City’s.
“It’s tough when you’re out there,”
Sean Dyche, the Burnley manager,
said. “It changes the whole feel when
they score after five minutes. We
looked rusty. They are a top side with
a top manager, put together for hun-
dreds of millions of pounds. You can
beat them, but it is very difficult.”
Star man Raheem Sterling (Manchester City).
Burnley (4-5-1): N Pope 6 — C Roberts 5, K Long 5,
J Tarkowski 6, C Taylor 5— A Westwood 5, J Cork 5
(J Rodriguez 71min), J Brownhill 6 — A Lennon 5,
W Weghorst 5 (A Barnes 81), D McNeil 5 (M Cornet
46, 6). Booked Weghorst.
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson 6 — K Walker 7,
A Laporte 7, N Aké 7, J Cancelo 7 — K De Bruyne 8
(B Silva 78), Rodri 7, I Gundogan 7 — R Sterling 8,
P Foden 7 (G Jesus 64, 6), J Grealish 7.
Referee C Pawson.RELEGATION RUN-IN
LEEDS UNITED
P31
PTS 30
Apr 9Watford (a)
Apr 25Crystal P (a)
Apr 30Man City (h)
May 7Arsenal (a)
May 15Brighton (h)
May 22Brentford (a)
TBAChelsea (h)EVERTON
P27
PTS 25
TodayWest Ham Utd (a)
Apr 6Burnley (a)
Apr 9Man Utd (h)
Apr 20Leicester City (h)
Apr 24Liverpool (a)
May 1Chelsea (h)
May 7Leicester (a)
May 15Brentford (h)
May 22Arsenal (a)
TBACrystal P (h)
TBAWatford (a)WATFORD
P30
PTS 22
Apr 9Leeds Utd (h)
Apr 16Brentford (h)
Apr 23Man City (a)
Apr 30Burnley (h)
May 7Crystal P (a)
May 15Leicester (h)
May 22Chelsea (a)
TBAEverton (h)BURNLEY
P28
PTS 21
Apr 6Everton (h)
Apr 10Norwich City (a)
Apr 17West Ham Utd (a)
Apr 21Southampton (h)
Apr 24Wolves (h)
Apr 30Watford (a)
May 7Aston Villa (h)
May 15Tottenham (a)
May 22Newcastle Utd (h)
TBAAston Villa (a)NORWICH CITY
P30
PTS 18
Apr 10Burnley (h)
Apr 16Man Utd (a)
Apr 23Newcastle Utd (h)
Apr 30Aston Villa (a)
May 7West Ham Utd (h)
May 15Wolves (a)
May 22Tottenham (h)
TBALeicester City (a)NEWCASTLE UTD
P29
PTS^31
TodayTottenham (a)
Apr 8Wolves (h)
Apr 17Leicester City (h)
Apr 20Crystal P (h)
Apr 23Norwich City (a)
Apr 30Liverpool (h)
May 7Man City (a)
May 15Arsenal (h)
May 22Burnley (a)Cooper
error
hands
Luton vital
late point
time, which allowed Wallace to send
Oliver Burke away on the left.
The Scottish substitute drilled the
ball across the box for Afobe to volley
home and take his goal tally for the
season into double figures.
Luton sent on a Scot of their own
in Snodgrass and he too claimed an
assist, in the 87th minute, as Cooper
rose with Adebayo at the back post to
level the scores.
Millwall almost snatched a third on
the break but Scott Malone fired
straight at Shea.
“I’m not saying we threw it away
because that would be unfair on
Luton,” Gary Rowett, the Millwall
manager, said. “But these moments
you have to see them out and we have
to make sure we deal with it.”Luton Town (5-3-2): Shea 7 — Bree 6, Lockyer 6,
Naismith 6, Potts 6 (Snodgrass 83min), Bell 7 —
Lansbury 7, Mpanzu 5 (Jerome 83), Campbell 6;
Cornick 6 (Onyedinma 64, 6), Adebayo 7.
Millwall (3-4-1-2) Bialkowski 6 — Ballard 6,
Cooper 6, M Wallace 6 — McNamara 6, Mitchell 6,
Saville 6, Malone 7 —J Wallace 7 (Kieftenbeld 90)
— Afobe 7, Bradshaw 7 (Burke 73).
Luton came from behind twice. Referee: G Scott.ALAN WALTER/SHUTTERSTOCKLuton Town’s unlikely bid to rise from
non-League to Premier League in the
space of eight years was boosted by a
late own goal from the Millwall
captain Jake Cooper.
The defender diverted a free kick
from the substitute Robert Snodgrass
into his own net after Benik Afobe’s
goal had looked like improving
Millwall’s chances of reaching the
play-offs. Instead it is Luton who sit
handily in fourth, with Millwall four
points adrift of the final slot in tenth.
Tom Bradshaw had fired the away
side ahead but Elijah Adebayo’sequaliser set the stage for a frantic
finish. “Coming back twice after
going behind showed we have great
character,” said the Luton manager,
Nathan Jones, who has overseen all
three of Luton’s step-by-step
promotions.
A game in which the Luton
defender Dan Potts suffered a head
wound early on badly needed an
injection of quality and Bradshaw
provided it in the 25th minute with a
well-struck opener. Jed Wallace found
the striker on the edge of the box and
his first-time effort snaked beyond
the dive of James Shea.
Luton’s reply was even better, as
Adebayo took his tally for the season
to 16. Henri Lansbury began the
move with a backheel before
Adebayo fired across the goalkeeper
and into the far corner.
It was not until the final ten
minutes that a crowd of just over
10,000 was treated to another
exchange of goals and, again, Millwall
went first. Luton were caught on the
counterattack nine minutes fromJon WestLUTON TOWN
Adebayo 33, Cooper (og) 87 2
MILLWALL
Bradshaw 25, Afobe 81 2SKY BET
CHAMPIONSHIP