Manchester City 2-2 Burnley: Brave Burnley battles back behind Boyd, Barnes

Second-half goals from George Boyd and Ashley Barnes canceled out two brilliant first half tallies from Fernandinho and David Silva, as Manchester City dropped a chance to move within a point of first-place Chelsea in a 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium.

Burnley remains in the drop zone but found a gutty effort that did not feature a single substitution for manager Sean Dyche.

City remains three points back of Chelsea, and now sit 7 points ahead of No. 3 Manchester United.

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Silva settled Jesus Navas pass from the end line, spun and struck the ball past Heaton to make it 1-0 in the 24th minute.

Then Fernandinho hit a dart from just outside the 18, the sheer velocity of which makes it a goal of the year candidate (VIDEO HERE). He hammered it off the bottom of the bar, and it pinged so hard that it’s rebound off the ground nearly came back to hit the bar again.

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But hold on! Boyd tapped in a pass from Ings to make it 2-1 just after halftime. Replays revealed that Boyd’s run was offside, but it wouldn’t matter.

And then Barnes snapped home a shot from traffic to even things up in the 81st minute, as the away section erupted around the Clarets.

Burnley kept pushing forward, and end-to-end action was the name of a fun game at the Etihad.

Lineups

Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Mangala, Kolarov, Fernandinho (Sinclair, 88′), Fernando, Navas, Silva, Nasri (Lampard, 76′), Milner (Jovetic, 62′)

Goal: Silva (24′), Fernandinho (33′)

Burnley: Heaton; Mee, Shackell (c), Keane, Trippier; Boyd, Jones, Marney, Arfield; Barnes, Ings

Goal: Boyd (47′), Barnes (81′)

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