Manchester City look to go top of the Premier League as they welcome Burnley to Etihad Stadium.
Victory will see Man City move to the top of the summit until Saturday evening at minimum if Liverpool lose in the lunchtime kick-off, whereas Burnley can climb out of the relegation zone with a win.
Team News
Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ilkay Gundogan could return for Man City after recovering from knocks which have kept them out of City’s last four matches across all competitions.
Ferran Torres is ruled out after suffering a foot injury whilst on international duty for Spain, whilst Gabriel Jesus is a doubt after returning late from international duty for Brazil which means that Kayky could make his senior debut up front for City.
Liam Delap (knock) and Benjamin Mendy (personal) remain absent.
Burnley could welcome Maxwel Cornet back from a hamstring injury after the Ivory Coast international successfully joined up with his international squad in the last fortnight.
Johann Berg Gudmundsson (muscle), Charlie Taylor and Matej Vydra (both knocks) are doubts and face late fitness tests.
Ben Mee (Coronavirus) is ruled out and again joins Dale Stephens (ankle) on the sidelines.
Stat Attack
- Manchester City are unbeaten in their last ten Premier League matches against Burnley (W9, D1).
- Burnley are winless in 17 away visits to Man City since winning 5-2 at City’s old Maine Road in March 1963 (D6, L11).
- Man City have defeated Burnley 5-0 in each of their last four clashes in all competitions at Etihad Stadium, with Riyad Mahrez netting six goals in all three league appearances against Burnley in this run.
- City have put just 34 of their 127 shots onto target in their opening seven league matches this season.
- No Premier League player has been caught offside more times in the opening seven matchweeks this season than Burnley’s Chris Wood, who was caught offside on ten occasions in seven appearances.
Prediction
Having adopted an aggressive pressing style in their last two matches, Man City surely have to fancy their chances here given their impressive recent home record over Burnley, even though their defence were twice caught out on sharp counter-attacks at Liverpool just before the international break.
Sean Dyche meanwhile will be hoping that his Burnley team can pull together to produce a strong reaction to their wasteful lacklustre display against Norwich last time out, especially because they were dangerous on the attack but were just sloppy in finishing their chances.
This though feels like Man City’s to lose and even if they’re forced to play without an established striker, I just can’t see them losing this match given their form over Burnley in recent seasons.
Prediction: Manchester City 3-0 Burnley
Result: Manchester City 2-0 Burnley