Vincent Kompany returns to The Etihad on Saturday in the FA Cup as Burnley bid to halt a miserable recent record against Manchester City.
Manchester City vs Burnley: Saturday, 5:45pm
Suggested bets
- Manchester City to win to nil
- Manchester City vs Burnley under 2.5 goals
Key stats
- Burnley are unbeaten in 18 games in all competitions
- Burnley have lost just twice away in the Championship all season
- Burnley have not scored a goal against Man City in six matches
- Manchester City have been winning at both half-time and full-time in their last seven matches against Burnley in all competitions
- Man City have won the last 10 games between the sides
- Four of those 10 wins have been by a 5-0 scoreline
Verdict
Vincent Kompany will have watched City’s demolition of Leipzig with mixed emotions on Tuesday night.
The Burnley boss, who many think will return to be manager of City one day, will have been urging on his former side, but might just have had some reservations after City smashed seven past the hapless Red Bull side.
The Germans did not lay a glove on City and for large spells of the second half they could not get near the hosts, who produced a clinical display to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.
One thing is for sure, Kompany will not let his side play with the time that Leipzig allowed City and the Championship promotion hopefuls will make a better fist of competing than the Red Bull boys.
The Championship title winners elect are a bigger price than Leipzig were, while City are an unbackable 1/5 to win in 90 minutes.
Burnley still face a formidable prospect. City have won 11 of their 13 home games in the Premier League and all eight of their various cup competitions at The Etihad.
Guardiola also has a clean bill of health with fierce competition for places all over the field and he is likely to ring the changes. Five-goal hero Haaland sat out the previous round’s win at Bristol City. Rico Lewis and Kalvin Phillips also played at Ashton Gate and Guardiola could well get some game time into some of his fringe players.
For Kompany he will see first hand how his side measure up to the best in the Premier League. The Belgian has totally revamped the way Burnley play and modelled the Clarets’ style on his experience with Guardiola at City.
Burnley have had a strong base to work from all season and have conceded just 29 goals in 37 league games. So don’t expect another flood of goals at The Etihad and in Wednesday’s hat-trick hero Nathan Tella, they have plenty of threat up front.
But City simply do not slip up against lower league opposition, so expect them to get through after an arm wrestle.
