Julian Alvarez celebrated his 24th birthday in style with a superb double as Manchester City moved back up to second in the Premier League with a 3-1 win over Burnley on Wednesday.

Rodrigo was also on target with a delightful second half strike as Pep Guardiola’s side made it eight successive wins in all competitions. There was further good news with Kevin De Bruyne at his sublime best in midfield as he claimed yet another assist in his first start since August following surgery.

He was joined by John Stones in the starting line-up after injury while Erling Haaland got his first minutes in nearly two months as a second half substitute.

Nunez raced onto Phil Foden’s incisive pass and when his low cutback was blocked by Dara O’Shea, he steadied himself to pick out Alvarez with a perfect cross for the birthday boy to head home.

He then doubled City’s lead six minutes later with a cleverly worked free-kick. Around 30 yards from goal, De Bruyne slid a clever pass down the side of the Clarets wall for Alvarez to finish coolly with a clipped finish.

But Burnley scrambled a late goal with Ameen Al-Dakhil turning in David Datro Fofana’s cross to spoil Ederson’s clean sheet.