Guardiola tetchy despite City EPL win

Jan 2, 2017 - 9:43 PM Pep Guardiola was tetchy and terse even though his Manchester City side needed only 10 men to beat Burnley 2-1 in a swift recovery from a loss to English Premier League title rival Liverpool.

City captain Fernandinho was shown a straight red card in the 32nd minute for a two-footed lunge on Johann Gudmundsson at the Etihad Stadium - his third dismissal in his past six games.

"You are the journalist, you can see it and you can explain it," Guardiola said at the media conference.

Pressed further, Guardiola said: "Ask the referee not me."

Despite the dismissal, City's French defender Gael Clichy broke the deadlock with a well-placed shot into the far corner in the 58th minute.

Sergio Aguero then came off the bench to score City's second, firing in off the post from the tightest of angles four minutes later.

Burnley made a fight of it when an attempted clearance by City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was eventually smashed over the line by Ben Mee in the 70th, but City held on for an important win after Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Liverpool.

"We won against a lot of circumstances in a tough game," Guardiola said.

City moved up to third place, two points behind Liverpool and seven behind leader Chelsea, which plays Tottenham on Wednesday.

Fourth-place Arsenal, who face Bournemouth on Tuesday, sit two points behind Guardiola's side.

City again found the going heavy despite starting well.

The hosts had to reorganise after Fernandinho's red card, but failed to make much headway until Guardiola introduced Aguero and David Silva for the start of the second half.

The breakthrough came just before the hour when Michael Keane headed out a Bacary Sagna cross straight to Clichy.

The Frenchman took a couple of touches on the edge of the area before striking a low shot that went behind the legs of Silva and beat Heaton at the far post.

Within moments, City had swept most of their earlier anxiety aside by doubling the lead.

Sterling shrugged off the defence to go through on goal, and although he stumbled while trying to go round Heaton, Aguero pounced from a narrow angle to finish with great precision.

Source: AAP