Premier League title race: Sergio Aguero’s seismic goal against Burnley shows he is a striker of the finest margins

Such circumstances made the manner of his match-winner all the more fitting, as it wasn’t a perfect touch in itself, but it was enough, going over the line by a mere 29.11mm

Manchester City’s twelfth win in a row this season brought with it an emotional release we have seen before from this team. It was another Sergio Aguero match-winner, another Sergio Aguero clutch goal and maybe even another Sergio Aguero title-winner.

His consistency going back to that glorious first season in this regard has been remarkable.

The timing of this goal was why this felt like it had an even deeper importance.

As the clock clicked past 60 minutes at Turf Moor, there was something of a landmark.

This was the first time in 12 matches that City had not been decisively leading a game by that point. The last time it happened? That was their last defeat, that 2-1 to Newcastle United on 29 January.

This, then, was a genuine test of City’s perseverance and defiance. It was also slightly uncharted territory, since this is a club that has not really been in this situation in five years. City have not had to absolutely win a match to win a title this late into a game, and this late into a season, since 2013-14. They were already champions by this point last year.

It similarly felt so much more tense than all of their recent matches. It definitely had so much less space.

Burnley were making sure of that, in what was a defiant, defensive performance. It’s difficult to think of a recent match where City had so little room for manoeuvre in the box, where they just couldn’t find any options. There was just a phalanx of bodies.

Consider that type of goal that City have so consistently scored in Pep Guardiola’s time at the club: the one where two wide players split to drag the defenders, and then one slips in to cut the ball back to another forward for the easiest of tap-ins.

They just couldn’t do that here. Burnley would not be moved. If a City player’s touch was not absolutely perfect in the box, it meant that the chance was gone. That could be so agonisingly seen with an opportunity that David Silva had at the penalty spot in the first half. It could certainly be seen on Guardiola’s anguished face.

Sean Dyche’s side were so oppressively reducing all space in the box. It was coming down to millimetres.

It was coming down a striker like Aguero.

Sergio Aguero celebrates his goal (Reuters)

Such circumstances made the manner of his match-winner all the more fitting, as it wasn’t a perfect touch in itself, but it was enough - going over the line by a mere 29.11mm.

That it is the second crucial City moment this season that has gone down to goalline technology only adds to that, following on from that Roberto Firmino “miss” in the January 2-1 win over Liverpool.

It emphasises how nervously close this race is getting even beyond the margins of the table. It emphasises the value of a striker as decisive as Aguero.

Much was made of how this was his fifth consecutive season hitting 20 league goals, but more relevant is how many of them have been decisive like this.

The Argentine's goal only just crossed the line (Getty)

This strike ensured he has now directly delivered 12 of his side’s 92 points this season - through goals that finally equalised or put the team ahead - and that is more than any other City player.

It isn’t, however, more than any other player in the title race. One stands ahead of Aguero in that regard. It isn’t Raheem Sterling, or even Sadio Mane. It is actually Mo Salah, who has been responsible for a whopping 24 points.

That feels all the more relevant in a year when the Egyptian is considered to have dropped off, and on a day when teammate Virgil van Dijk is set to receive the PFA player of the year award, with Salah not even in the team of the year.

He has quite a claim.

Virgil van Dijk has been crowed PFA Player of the Year (Getty)

So, too, does Aguero.

Because the difference here is just how long he’s been doing it. He may not have scored as many decisive goals as Salah this season, but he has scored so many more over his eight years in the Premier League.

He set the tone in that 2011-12 season, and has just kept going.

Aguero is the player you want for margins like this, as he so gloriously displayed.

It now looks like it might set up another scene we've seen before: Aguero, and his City teammates, lifting the Premier League trophy.