Premier League: Stuttering City Fancy a Taste of Claret

Manchester City vs Burnley

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City hope to get their Premier League title challenge on the move when Scott Parker’s Burnley head south to the big city this weekend.   

Premier League: Manchester City vs Burnley is a meeting of one of the richest clubs in world football and one of the original founders of the football league and, while the East Lancs club has made a habit of bloodying noses over the past 15 years or so, it is the current giants of Manchester who we expect to take the spoils at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.    

Both teams picked up a 1-1 draw at the weekend, the Sky Blues away to title rivals Arsenal and Burnley at home to Nottingham Forest and they are both in Carabao Cup action in midweek, City away to Huddersfield on Wednesday, while Burnley hosted Cardiff City on Tuesday night.   

 

Talking Points

Expect City to return to type 

Anyone who watched Manchester City’s draw at Arsenal last weekend would be forgiven for wondering what on earth they were seeing as the Sky Blues, the world leaders of possession-based, quick-moving and attacking football; well…they parked the bus at Arsenal. 

Yep; at 1-0 up the Sky Blues didn’t look for a second goal and simply packed their defence and midfield in an attempt to stifle the Gunners. And it almost worked until Gabriel Martinelli popped up with a brilliant equaliser.  

I think we can expect the Manchester City vs Burnley highlights to tell a totally different, and more familiar, story. The last time City were at the Etihad it was the Manchester Derby on show and the Sky Blues were at their brilliant best as they swatted away their neighbours with Erling Haaland scoring twice and Phil Foden back to his best. The Norwegian striker bagged again against the Gunners to make it six for the campaign and the Burnley defence will need to be at their very best to live with him, and hope that Haaland doesn’t have his shooting boots on!       

 

Parker is willing to be pragmatic 

Having already faced Tottenham Hotspur away from home and Liverpool at Turf Moor the Clarets have got two of the Premier League top three out of the way for now; and though they picked up no points from those two matches, Burnley showed their ability to learn quickly and adapt to the opposition challenges, which will differ week from week. Their opening day trip to Tottenham was a stark reminder of just how ruthless the Premier League can be as, while Burnley matched their hosts for an hour, three moments of pure quality gave Spurs a 3-0 win. Since then, the Clarets have won one, drawn one and lost two but the most impressive outing was one of those defeats, a 1-0 loss at home to Liverpool.  

As much as City dug in away to Arsenal the Clarets put on a master-class against the Champions, giving them little room in front of goal and the Reds needed a 95th-minute penalty to break the hosts’ resistance. In a young team, keeper Martin Dubravka and defender Kyle Walker have shown great leadership, and Walker will welcome the chance to meet his old City team-mates on Saturday. 

Against Sunderland, Manchester United and Nottingham Forest, the Clarets displayed their attacking talent too. Winger Jaidon Anthony has scored three goals already, with only Haaland having scored more and, while getting results against Forest and the Black Cats, they were unlucky, again, to fall to an injury-time penalty in a 3-2 loss to the Red Devils.           

 

History 

While these two teams go back an awful long way, this will be the 19^th meeting between Burnley in the Premier League era, and the Clarets are hoping they can somehow snatch their second victory, having drawn three and lost 14. The Manchester City vs Burnley betting odds don’t give them much hope, but in their five matches so far Parker’s men have shown they will not lie down easily. 

In terms of recent form, Manchester City have won three, drawn one and lost two of the last six games, while Burnley have won two, drawn one and lost three.     

 

Betting Tip

Manchester City, at SBOTOP odds of 1.18 to win, should really take all three points on Saturday and I expect they will; with Burnley priced at 11.50 to win and the draw is at 6.75. 

While some may say this is a ‘free hit’ for Burnley, Parker certainly won’t view it that way and, with an extra day to prepare, he will ensure his whole squad is on message for the visit to the Etihad Stadium…so I don’t see a walkover and expect the hosts to work hard for their victory.

   

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