Man City return to top of PL with comfortable win at Burnley

Manchester City responded to Liverpool's win over Watford earlier in the day by easing to a 2-0 victory at Burnley that sent them back to the top of the Premier League table.

Pep Guardiola's side went into the game at Turf Moor knowing that anything but three points would see them go into next weekend's showdown with Liverpool - live on Sky Sports - behind their title rivals.

Man City also face a Champions League double-header against Atletico Madrid in the coming weeks, and Guardiola said before the game his side could not afford to overlook the challenge presented by Burnley.

Fortunately for the manager, his team appeared to listen to his warning, with Kevin De Bruyne giving them the lead after just five minutes when he latched onto Raheem Sterling's cushioned pass and drilled a first-time shot into the top corner of Nick Pope's net.

City tend to enjoy themselves against Burnley - they have now won their last 10 games against the Clarets by an aggregate score of 34-1 - and they doubled their lead 20 minutes later in similar fashion, with Sterling once again finding space on the right before squaring for Ilkay Gundogan, whose strike took a slight deflection off Kevin Long to wrong foot Pope.

With so many important fixtures on the horizon, it was perhaps understandable that City appeared to ease off after going 2-0 ahead, although they did continue to create chances.

Sterling volleyed high and wide with Pope stranded after Phil Foden found him with a clipped through ball, and Foden then saw his clever back-heeled volley from Joao Cancelo's cross kept out by the Burnley goalkeeper.

Gabriel Jesus was introduced with just under half an hour to play and appeared determined to end his barren run in the Premier League, with