Burnley welcome reigning champions and fellow top flight opposition, Manchester City to Turf Moor in a tough Fourth Round tie of this season’s Carabao Cup.
Sean Dyche’s Clarets are looking to secure a first Quarter-Final appearance in this competition since reaching the last four in the 2008-09 season, whereas Man City are looking to reach the last eight for the fifth time in last six seasons.
Team News
Burnley have no fresh injury concerns as Robbie Brady remains doubtful with a rib injury suffered in the Clarets’ opening Premier League match this season.
James Tarkowski (toe) is unlikely to feature and the English defender could again join Johann Berg Gudmundsson (knee), Ben Mee (thigh), Ashley Barnes (fitness) Jay Rodriguez and Jack Cork (both ankle) on sidelines.
Man City will be without John Stones once again after the defender sat out Sunday’s home defeat against Leicester with fitness issues.
Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko (both muscle), Joao Cancelo (foot), Bernardo Silva (quadriceps), Ilkay Gundogan (Coronavirus) and Sergio Aguero (knee) all remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Burnley lost two previous League Cup meetings against Manchester City, although both defeats came in 6-0 aggregate defeat across a two legged First Round tie in 1999-2000 season.
- City are unbeaten in five of their last six League Cup ties against fellow Premier League opposition, excluding two penalty shootouts in 2018-19 season against Leicester and Chelsea which the Citizens eventually won en route to the title (W3, D2, L1).
- Burnley are winless in their last five home League Cup matches (D2, L3), excluding penalty shootouts of which they won just once against Sheffield United in Second Round earlier this season.
Prediction
After suffering a narrow league defeat on Saturday, Burnley will certainly be pressure to find their scoring boots from recent matches which could be boosted if Man City put out a similar team akin to the side that beat Bournemouth last week, especially given the current injury issues within the Citizens’ squad.
City however can’t exactly come here as favourites after a woeful performance on Sunday at home to Leicester in which they simply were simply outplayed ruthlessly in the tactics department, despite having taken the lead so the opening minutes will be important for both teams in terms of getting on the front foot.
I however am expecting Pep Guardiola to put out a stronger team than the side which scraped past Bournemouth in the last round if only to allow players a chance to atone for Sunday’s performance ahead of a tough trip to Leeds on Saturday, although improvement will be needed fast if Burnley field a full-strength team and score first.
Prediction: Burnley 2-1 Manchester City
Result: Burnley 0-3 Manchester City