Burnley vs Manchester City tips: Pep Guardiola’s men to kick off title defence in style
The Premier League is back, and it kicks off with a bang as defending champions Manchester City visit newly promoted Burnley – currently led by City legend Vincent Kompany.
Date, KO time and TV coverage
Premier League, Friday, August 11, Kick-off 8pm BST, live on Sky Sports Main Event
Predicted score
Burnley 1-4 Manchester City
Team news
Burnley forward Michael Obafemi is out of action with a hamstring injury though he is the only injury concern for manager Kompany.
Manchester City’s star man Kevin de Bruyne was rested in the Community Shield and watched the match from the safety of the substitutes bench. Despite this, the Burnley star could return.
Joao Cancelo is another option for Guardiola after returning to Manchester.
Nathan Ake (fatigue) was rested last time out but could be an option here, although John Stones and Josko Gvardiol look sure to partner each other at centre back.
Burnley vs Manchester City Verdict
Expect a fiery fanfare atmosphere as Premier League football returns to Turf Moor. Burnley welcome defending champions Manchester City and they will be looking to produce a seismic shock.
The Clarets are expected to go well with Kompany at the helm, though competing in the Premier League and Championship are two different things.
City have lost Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan this summer but have brought in Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol.
Pep Guardiola’s side are overwhelming favourites – not only to retain their crown but also to dismantle Burnley away from home.
Nevertheless, pundits will do well not to write off Burnley this season. The Belgian’s side are one of the best to ever win the Championship and they’ll be able to compete.
Their exciting approach gives them a good chance of pinching points from teams outside of the top eight, and we are anticipating they cause a shock or two along the way.
However, that’s highly unlikely to happen here. City have scored 25 unanswered goals since Burnley last found the net against them.
The previous meeting between the sides saw the Cityzens romp to a 6-0 victory in the FA Cup and Burnley haven’t overhauled their squad since that day, and more importantly, haven’t changed their style.
You can see Pep Guardiola’s influence on Kompany’s style. Trying to fight fire with fire against City was always going to end badly.
The visitors have bagged 15 first-half goals across eight meetings with Burnley and there’s good reason to believe they’ll open the scoring early again here.
The hosts will stick to their guns with their approach, and so they should, but it will likely allow City to pass around them and find gaps from the off.
Kevin de Bruyne could return to the starting line-up and feature alongside Kovacic, Rodri, Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva in varying midfield to wide midfield roles.
Burnley duo Joe Cullen and Josh Brownhill have got the legs to get through the necessary work, but there are question marks over Jack Cork.
Nathan Redmond, Anass Zaroury, Manuel Benson and Zeki Amdouni all look capable on the break and it’s worth noting the visitors conceded in 66% of Premier League matches last term.
Burnley will have their moments and it wouldn’t be a shock to score, but we expect City to open them early and often and create plenty of chances for Erling Haaland.
