Thirty-six games in, the title race strayed dangerously close to becoming an ordeal for Manchester City. For over an hour it had looked as though they might blink in their staring contest with Liverpool.

Something had to give and Pep Guardiola’s players certainly toyed with the emotions of their supporters during those passages of play when they lacked their usual sureness of touch.

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Except, of course, this is the team whose supporters like to sing how they will “fight to the end”; the team, lest it be forgotten, that once won the league with the final kick of the season. City even have a bar at the Etihad Stadium – “The 93:20” they call it – to commemorate Sergio Agüero’s contribution on that occasion and here he is, seven years on, still delivering vital goals and showing he is the man for the big occasion. No wonder Guardiola was so effusive in his praise. “Aah, he’s a legend,” said the City manager afterwards.

Agüero’s latest goal puts him alongside Alan Shearer in one respect. They are the only two players in the Premier League era to score 20 times or more in six different seasons.

Yet the more important detail relates to what that goal means for the title race on a day when the supporters of Liverpool, an hour into the game, might have dared to think the momentum was about to swing dramatically their way.

Instead, it turned out to be City’s 12th successive league victory, restoring their one-point lead above Liverpool, and if they can extend that sequence to 14 in their last two games by beating Leicester at home and then Brighton away, there will be nothing Jürgen Klopp and his players can do about it.

Agüero, in particular, looks absolutely intent on making it happen and, when the final story comes to be told of what could yet be a domestic treble for City, a special mention should be made of that moment, after 63 minutes, when he controlled Bernardo Silva’s delivery, held off James Tarkowski in the Burnley penalty area and swung his left foot at the ball.

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It was the first time Tom Heaton in the Burnley goal had not been able to get in the way of City’s goalbound shots. Matthew Lowton blocked the ball on the goal-line but there was a reason why the referee, Paul Tierney, felt a buzz on his wristband.

It was the goal-line technology letting him know that the momentum of the ball had taken it over the line. In another era Burnley might have got away with it. Not here, though – 29.51 millimetres, to be precise.

Burnley were awkward, obdurate opponents and City did not always look like champions-in-waiting, particularly in the first half when there were even a few “olés” from the home supporters during their periods of possession. OK, they did not even reach half a dozen passes before City had the ball back. Yet it was a clear sign that the game was not going in the way that Guardiola and his players would have wanted.

Perhaps they were missing the elegant touches of Kevin De Bruyne. Maybe they are not quite so slick when Fernandinho is missing. Or perhaps it turned out they were not immune to nerves, after all.

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Whatever it was, it was strange to see Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sané play with so little menace during the first half. David Silva was not having his usual influence. Bernardo Silva, such a delightful player, was more effective when he swapped positions with Sterling but there were only a couple of occasions throughout that period when Heaton had to save his team. Even then they were routine pieces of goalkeeping rather than real moments of danger.

At one point Oleksandr Zinchenko had the ball at his feet and a moment of carelessness let it run out for a throw-in. Not long afterwards Sané could be seen waving his arms in anger after Agüero, dropping back in his desperation to make something happen, overhit a pass. Sané had won his place back after a brilliant performance, as a substitute, in City’s win at Manchester United last Wednesday but he found it difficult to continue where he had left off and was substituted immediately after the goal.

The best chance of the first half actually fell to Burnley when Kyle Walker lost his footing bringing the ball forward from defence and Jeff Hendrick had the chance to put Chris Wood through on goal. Unfortunately for Burnley, Wood was not so alert to the possibilities. His touch was heavy and Ederson was quick off his goal-line to avert the danger.

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After the break, however, City subjected their opponents to a period of almost unremitting pressure. They ought to have had a penalty when Ashley Barnes jutted out his arm to stop Bernardo Silva’s shot and, at 1-0, it needed a brilliant goalline clearance from Ben Mee to stop Gabriel Jesus, Sané’s replacement, doubling the lead.

Guardiola noted afterwards that his team had not conceded a single corner and, as such, subdued Burnley’s threat from set-plays.

Yet it was still a tense finish and his state of mind could probably be summed up by his decision to replace Agüero with John Stones and then bring on another centre-half, Nicolás Otamendi, for Sterling. “I was trembling,” City’s manager said.