Manchester City vs Burnley Match Preview
Pep Guardiola will aim at continuity for Manchester City form as he prepares to welcome Burnley at the Etihad. Since their defeat at the hands of Aston Villa, Manchester City, who face Burnley on Wednesday, have won nine out of their ten games in all competitions. That run of fawanews results has propelled them beyond third-placed Arsenal, and they are now considered a pivotal challenger to Liverpool in the context of the title race.
Manchester City also broke their Tottenham Hotspur Stadium hoodoo with a late win over Spurs in their FA Cup fourth-round clash. Guardiola’s side dominated the game for long periods, and until Nathan Ake’s late strike, it did look like they would go a sixth game there without scoring. However, the current holders are now through to the fifth round.
Before that, they beat Newcastle United despite being behind in the game for long periods. With that win, Guardiola’s men are only five points behind Liverpool’s leaders with a game in hand. They now host Burnley in what the manager would describe as a must-win encounter and will certainly hope for a repeat performance from their 3-0 win on the opening weekend of this season.
Team News & Tactics
Fawanews Man City
Pep Guardiola is close to having an entire squad at his disposal, with Erling Haaland rejoining training. The Norwegian has missed a few games since the turn of the year. But there are chances of him making it to the matchday squad. Manuel Akanji remains the other potential absentee and may not make the midweek clash. Other than that, Manchester City will have a complete set of players, meaning Guardiola could probably name the same back four of Ruben Dias, Kyle Walker, Nathan Ake and Josko Gvardiol for the game against Burnley.
Kevin De Bruyne, who has made three substitute appearances since returning to action, could be in for his first start. However, Haaland will probably have to stay content with a place on the bench, with Guardiola likely to decide to give the Norwegian some minutes depending on how the game goes.
Hence, Julian Alvarez might get another run in as Manchester City’s leading striker, a game where he wants to prove something to his manager. If De Bruyne makes the cut, Guardiola might change his formation to a 4-3-3 to accommodate the Belgian and Bernardo Silva alongside Rodri, which could see Mateo Kovacic take his place on the bench.
Probable Lineup (4-3-3): Ederson; Walker, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol; De Bruyne, Rodri, Silva; Foden, Alvarez, Doku
Burnley
Vincent Kompany would have certainly liked to have a full-fledged squad at his disposal. But unfortunately, Burnley are missing a host of their first-team players. Charlie Taylor, Nathan Redmond, and Luca Koleosho are all out for the long term, while others are unavailable with separate problems.
Jordan Beyer, Hannes Delcroix, Sander Berge and Aaron Ramsey are absent, meaning Kompany must tinker with his squad and make the right selection decisions. Hjalmar Ekdal, who fawa news recently started a game for Burnley, is attempting to keep his place in defence.
Dara O’Shea, while Ameen Al-Dakhil could join Ekdal in the backline, with the latter likely to replace Taylor at left-back. Josh Cullen and Josh Brownhill are primed to keep their central midfield positions intact, with Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Wilson Odobert likely to take up the wide positions.
