In the first match seventh-placed Burnley meets leading Manchester City, which at the moment has 33 points more. Besides, Burnley didn’t taste sweetness of victory in last nine matches, while the Citizens again won four matches in a row after being defeated at the Anfield, and on top of it they had already won Burnley two times this season.
In October last year Burnley was defeated by 3-0 at the Etihad, while at the beginning of this one they lost at the very same stadium to the Citizens by 4-1 in the FA Cup. It should be said that coach Dyche players haven’t won for more than month and a half in the league, where they had four draws and four defeats, but thanks to very good results made in the first part of season they still occupy good seventh place in the table.
Since their advantage over teams from the lower part of table is huge, no one in Burnley needs to be worried, especially as after match with the City their schedule becomes much easier. In previous round Burnley drew away with Newcastle 1-1, with which it finally put an end to four-game losing streak. Due to injuries this Saturday’s match should skip goalkeeper Heaton, defenders Ward and Tarkowski, midfielders Defour and Brady, and forwards Wood and Walters.
Probable lineups Burnley: Pope – Bardsley, Long, Mee, Taylor – Gudmundsson, Cork, Westwood, Arfield – Hendrick – Barnes
We have said in the introduction that the guests from Manchester after being defeated at the Anfield, which was at the same time their first this season, had managed to again win four matches in a row, by one in FA Cup and League Cup and two in the league. given that second-placed team, Manchester United, was defeated in the same period by Tottenham, the Citizens have now even 15 points more and is indeed very difficult to expect that will drop chance in remaining 13 rounds to win title of English champions.
Besides, with recent victory over Bristol City they reached the final of League Cup, where will meet Arsenal near the end of this month, while before that the Citizens will face Swiss Basel in the round of 16 of Champions League and Wigan, also in the round of 16 but of the FA Cup. However, we need to stress that Guardiola has more and more problems lately with absences and this match with Burnley should skip injured defenders Stone and Mandy, midfielders D. Silva, Sane and Delph, and forward Jesus.
Probable lineups Manchester City: Ederson – Walker, Otamendi, Laporte, Zinchenko – Fernandinho – B. Silva, de Bruyne, Gundogan, Sterling – Aguero
Although the guests from Manchester are in much better shape at the moment we should have in mind that Burnley still has one of best defences in the Premier League, which is why we have decided to play here on option with fewer goals.
Pick: under 3 goals 1.73
- 73/100 @1XBet