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Manchester City travelled to Turf Moor to face Burnley in a Matchday 15 midweek fixture and the Cityzens ran out comfortable winners with a 4-1 victory.
Pep Guardiola has a recent good record against the Clarets but it took his wards some time to get going until a 23rd-minute finish from Gabriel Jesus sent them on their way.
The Brazilian ended the night with a brace, while Rodri scored a worldie to make it 3-0 and Riyad Mahrez completed the rout with a trademark goal before Rob Brady scored a consolation goal after a goalmouth scramble in the City box.
The win would have been exactly what Pep Guardiola wanted after their disappointing result last time out against Newcastle and in this piece, we shall be highlighting three talking points from the clash between Manchester City and Burnley.
3. City pass the buck to Liverpool
Last season, Liverpool and Manchester City went head-to-head in what became one of the tightest Premier League races in history, with the title not decided until the final day.
The Mancunians ultimately prevailed by one point but the fact that Liverpool pushed them to the limit and ended the season as European champions meant that everybody expected more of the same this season.
Liverpool have played their part so far, winning 13 of their 14 league matches to sit comfortably top of the Premier League but rather disappointingly, Manchester City have not quite matched their lofty heights of recent seasons.
So far this term, they have dropped 14 points from just 14 matches and this is rather disappointing, considering that this was the same total they dropped in their record-breaking campaign two seasons ago.
City's loss of form had seen Liverpool race 11 points clear of them, with many already declaring the Merseysiders champions-elect.
However, the defending champions have more than enough in their tank to still make this an intriguing battle and Guardiola would want his wards to give their all in a bid to restore parity with Jurgen Klopp's men.
Each match from now to the end of the campaign is effectively a final for Manchester City and they cannot afford to drop too many more points if they are to make it three consecutive league titles.
Fresh from their draw with Newcastle, this victory was exactly what the doctor ordered and reduces the deficit to eight points temporarily.
With Liverpool disputing the Merseyside derby later today, the baton has been passed to them to get the job done and you can be sure that Guardiola would be following their result keenly.
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2. Clean sheets still at a premium for Manchester City
Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson Moraes kept 20 clean sheets last season, narrowly missing out on the Golden Glove award to Alisson Becker and the season before that, he had 16 shutouts as the Cityzens thumped all before them to become league champions.
However, the current campaign has been a different story and an injury to Aymeric Laporte at the end of the summer means that Manchester City have not looked as assured at the back as they have in recent years.
Coming into the fixture with Burnley, the Cityzens had kept just five clean sheets from their opening 14 games and this was rather disappointing compared to the standards set over the last two campaigns.
With just one minute left in normal time, Ederson would have felt that he was on course to register his sixth league clean sheet of the season but a momentary lapse in concentration by the City defenders in the immediate aftermath of Mahrez' goal put paid to that thought.
His distress when the ball went past him into the net was evident for all to see and while the goals might still be flowing at the other end, City's inability to shut out even the lowliest of opposition would be a cause of concern for Guardiola.
1. Gabriel Jesus takes his chances
Gabriel Jesus has come a long way from the highly-rated teenager who signed for Manchester City from Palmeiras for the sum of £27m in the summer of 2016.
Since then, he has found it difficult to dislodge Sergio Aguero from the starting lineup and it is not for want of trying, as the Argentine international is one of the best strikers in Premier League history and arguably the greatest player in the annals of Manchester City.
The 31-year-old, however, pulled up with an injury in the game against Chelsea and this afforded Jesus the opportunity to be Manchester City's go-to man in front of goal but he had not exactly taken his chances.
There was a missed penalty in the 1-1 draw with Atalanta, while he also fluffed his lines in the stalemate with Newcastle and more than a handful of people had started questioning his ability to lead the line when Sergio Aguero eventually departs the scene.
The Burnley game gave him a perfect opportunity to silence his critics and he responded with two well taken goals, with his second on the night underlining his ability to be a world-class striker someday.
Beyond his goals, Pep Guardiola would have been impressed with the Brazilian's all-round work ethic and with Aguero's return date still unknown, Jesus showed that he is more than capable of handling the responsibility of scoring goals.
