Erling Haaland brace and two Maxime Esteve own goals help Man City thump Burnley | OneFootball

Two Maxime Esteve own goals and a late Erling Haaland brace helped Manchester City beat Burnley 5-1 to make it 14 wins in a row over the Clarets.

After all the talk about Kyle Walker’s return to the Etihad Stadium in the build-up to this game it was City’s starting right-back Matheus Nunes who scored their key second goal, rifling in a 61st-minute volley to restore their lead after Jaidon Anthony cancelled out an early opener off Esteve.

Four minutes later the unfortunate Esteve inadvertently turned in Oscar Bobb’s shot to effectively settle what had become a nervy game for City before two goals in four minutes from Haaland added some gloss to the scoreline.

Pep Guardiola said on Friday he used to “sleep like a baby” knowing Walker would shut down his opponents’ left-wingers but Jeremy Doku enjoyed himself against the former City captain, and it was no surprise to see the opening goal come from that side.

A fortunate bounce helped Doku to get beyond Walker inside the box. His shot was well saved by Martin Dubravka but bounced back up inside the goal area, with Esteve putting it into his own net under pressure from Phil Foden.

Doku then brought another good save from Dubravka with a low shot on the angle before Nico Gonzalez – starting at the base of midfield as Rodri took a breather before next week’s trip to Monaco – saw his follow-up effort deflected wide.

City appeared to be cruising but Burnley grew into the game after the half-hour mark, and got their reward – and only their third goal against City in the last 14 meetings – seven minutes before half-time.

One of several loose passes from City gifted them possession in the hosts’ half, and they switched it wide for Quilindschy Hartman to turn in a low cross which Anthony swept home with the help of a deflection off Ruben Dias, his fourth goal in six Premier League games this season.

Burnley tails were up and Lyle Foster then sent an ambitious overhead kick wide.

The visitors were close to snatching the lead again as they broke away seconds into the second half, with Foster’s shot from the edge of the box deflecting off Nunes.

City were struggling to break down some determined Burnley defending, and did not get a proper sight of goal in the second half until Tijjani Reijnders lifted a shot over the crossbar just before the hour.

But minutes later they were back in front. Josko Gvardiol’s cross was deep to Haaland, who headed it back for Nunes to volley in to the roof of the net from close range.

As the City celebrations were ongoing Guardiola replaced Savinho with Bobb, and within minutes the Norwegian was the key to City’s third – another Esteve own goal.

Nunes sent in a low ball from the right and although Bobb did not make proper contact, he did enough to have it brush off Esteve and in.

City were in control now with Burnley’s resistance broken and chances piled up. Haaland squandered a fine chance in the 86th minute but then turned in Doku’s 90th-minute cross before capitalising on a mix-up between Esteve and Florentino Luis to add a fifth in stoppage time.