Newcastle United defender explains the 'demoralising' difference between Manchester City and Liverpool

After a spirited 1-0 defeat against quadruple chasing Liverpool at St James’s Park last Saturday, The Magpies now turn their attention to league leaders Manchester City this Sunday (4:30pm kick-off).

The trip to the Etihad Stadium comes shortly after City’s dramatic Champions League semi-final exit to Real Madrid on Wednesday evening. Pep Guardiola’s side led by two goals on aggregate heading into stoppage time only for the newly crowned La Liga champions to turn the tie on its head late on.

With the Champions League trophy continuing to elude Man City, the Premier League title is their final chance at silverware this season.

They currently sit a point clear of Liverpool with four games left to play while Newcastle sit 10th, nine points off the European places and 11 ahead of the relegation zone.

Burn has played a key role in United’s Premier League survival this season following his £13million arrival from Brighton and Hove Albion in January.

The defender has been virtually ever-present in a side that has won 10 of their last 15 matches. Only Manchester City and Liverpool have picked up more points than Newcastle in 2022.

And playing both in quick succession will help highlight the key differences between the two sides.

“The difference with City is that they can demoralise you by keeping the ball constantly and you could probably not touch it for 90 minutes,” Burn said.

"You still think you might have a chance against Liverpool but the speed at which they counter is probably the big difference between the teams.”

The second half of the 2021-22 campaign has represented significant progress for Newcastle under Eddie Howe as the club now looks to push further up the table next season and eventually close the gap on title-chasing sides like City and Liverpool.

“That's the plan [to close the gap],” Burn admitted. “It just depends how quickly we can do that.

"Obviously Liverpool and City have been building for a number of years to get to that level and it's where we want to be so hopefully we can keep moving in the right direction and try and get in and around them.”

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