- Man City defeated Burnley
- Teams were separated by one goal
- Not the best performance
Manchester City have earned another win in the Premier League, but seeing off Burnley proved harder than it should have been.
Some players thrived, while others failed to prove themselves on a night which will have delivered mixed emotions in the Manchester City camp.
Here are the three stars who impressed the most, and three others who have some work to do ahead of the trip to the Hill Dickinson Stadium in May.
Winners
Abdukodir Khusanov was solid for Man City
Although City were the team with a host of chances, Burnley were not far away from finding the net on a couple of occasions.
However, getting past Khusanov proved to be a tricky task, as the Uzbek warrior made a couple of vital interventions.
Khusanov took the risk of making sliding challenges inside the box, but he timed each one to perfection to ensure the Citizens kept a clean sheet.
Bernardo Silva was everywhere again
Silva was very impressive with his workrate against Arsenal, and he got stuck in just as much on Wednesday night.
The Man City captain had 118 touches during the match, meaning he was on the ball roughly once every 46 seconds.
As Silva’s heatmap shows, he was pretty much everywhere, creating seven chances at one end of the pitch and making 12 defensive contributions down the other.
Rayan Cherki will be left bemused by his zero goal contributions
It is rare for a game to pass by at the moment without Rayan Cherki bagging a goal or assist, but he was unable to register either of these against Burnley.
However, the Frenchman crafted eight opportunities and one big chance, while recording 0.78xG and 0.44xA.
Cherki’s heatmap showed he made fewer defensive interventions than Silva, but he had a lot of impact in attack and touched the ball 99 times overall.
Losers
Nico Gonzalez was snubbed by Pep Guardiola
Rodri was unable to feature against Burnley due to a calf injury, so many expected Nico to be given his first Premier League start since January.
Despite this, Rayan Ait-Nouri was brought into the starting line-up, with Nico O’Reilly moving into midfield.
The Spaniard did come close to scoring after coming on in the 65th minute, but his shot went narrowly wide of the post.
Antoine Semenyo was largely anonymous
Semenyo did not do an awful lot against Arsenal and his night at Turf Moor was once again a similar story.
The winger failed to land a shot on target and he only made one successful dribble during the match.
On top of this, Semenyo lost five of his seven duels, so it was not surprising when he was replaced on the 65-minute mark.
Rayan Ait-Nailed failed to make the most of his opportunity
Eyebrows were raised when Ait-Nouri was named in the starting line-up and it felt like he was off the pace at Turf Moor.
The defender played in a more attacking role, but did not make any significant contributions that would be considered noteworthy.
Ait-Nouri did not look happy when he was subbed off, but the reality at Man City is that one underwhelming performance can be very costly. This is a team aiming for the Premier League title, and there is enough depth to replace players who are struggling.
