George Boyd stunned champions Manchester City and damaged their Barclays Premier League title defence as Burnley claimed a memorable 1-0 win on Saturday.
The midfielder’s superb 61st-minute strike sent Turf Moor into raptures, as he drilled in from the edge of the area to settle an entertaining clash.
With victory, Burnley moved to within a point of Sunderland, who are fourth from bottom after being thrashed 4-0 at home by Aston Villa.
For City, meanwhile, defeat leaves them five points behind leaders Chelsea but having played two matches more, with Jose Mourinho’s side playing one of their matches in hand at home to Southampton on Sunday.
The champions also opened the door to those behind them chasing UEFA Champions League qualification, with Arsenal now a point adrift in third while Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur will all look to take advantage of Manuel Pellegrini’s side’s stuttering form.
Pellegrini recalled captain Vincent Kompany, who partnered Martin Demichelis in central defence in place of Eliaquim Mangala. Fernandinho also started and he had City’s first chance when he powered through midfield, but his shot was blocked and the ball hit Edin Dzeko before going out for a goal-kick.
Burnley manager Sean Dyche opted for leading scorer Danny Ings and Sam Vokes to lead the line, but it was Boyd who threatened early on, forcing Kompany to get down well to head out his cross for a corner.
The home side saw Vokes head wide as they matched their high-flying visitors, before Dzeko fired off target at the other end.
Dzeko also had a close-range effort stopped by Tom Heaton with a foot, and Sergio Aguero shot on the follow-up at the Burnley goalkeeper. Jason Shackell blocked from Dzeko and Aguero fired wide again, as City came more into the match.
Pablo Zabaleta typified their growing pressure when he cut the ball back early in the second period, but Aguero steered his shot past a post.
Burnley grabbed the lead against the run of play just past the hour when Kieran Trippier floated in a free-kick and Kompany’s headed clearance landed perfectly for Boyd on the edge of the area. The winger caught the ball with a perfect left-foot half-volley that flew past Joe Hart low into the opposite bottom corner of the goal.
A few minutes later, Michael Duff was penalised for a foul on Aguero but when the free-kick came in, City substitute Wilfried Bony’s header was easy for Heaton to deal with.
The visitors pressed for an equaliser and Fernandinho volleyed well over from another move before, with 10 minutes to go, Yaya Toure floated the ball into the Burnley area, where an unmarked Aguero headed over the crossbar.
City were upping the tempo, and in stoppage time claimed for a penalty when Ben Mee challenged Zabaleta as he ran with the ball into a crowded area.
Referee Andre Mariner waved away the appeals as City saw the Barclays Premier League title slip further from their grasp.
Burnley manager Sean Dyche: “There’s great belief in what we do here and you can see that for sure the desire to remain in the Premier League is there for all to see.
“It’s not all governed by results. You have to see through the results and see if they are getting better and they are.
“Most of them have known me for a long time and know how I work. You hope it rubs off on them, as I’ve said we’ve been dented a few times but not broken, we like how the players work with that desire to press on the front foot.
“Boyd has been terrific for us. I’ve known him a long time, I even played against him many moons ago believe it or not.
“He’s stuck at it, he’s stuck at his career, worked hard. He’s honest as the day’s long, I thought he was an honest player. He’s a good fit.
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini: “It was a normal performance. I don’t think we played very, very bad, we created three or four chances.
“Burnley had one shot and they scored a beautiful goal, but our performance was not so bad. We need to create more chances – we did not create enough chances to score
“Football is not only money. In the Premier League anybody can beat anybody. But we are second in the table, it is clear we did not want to lose points, it makes it more difficult, but we are not doing so bad.
“We must fight to try and keep this position, try and improve. We must trust in what we are doing and try to win the next game.”
source:premierleague.com
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 