Premier League: Winless Burnley Face the Champions

Manchester City vs Burnley

The Premier League favourites take on one of the early season strugglers on Saturday when champions Manchester City meet winless Burnley at the Etihad Stadium.

The Clarets lost 5-0 on their last two visits there and the realists in East Lancashire will expect a tough afternoon against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, who seek a first win in three. Sean Dyche’s team has made another slow start to the campaign and they need to get going quickly, but they have always recovered in the past and Dyche will tell his players this is a good time to start.

Burnley need to be at their very best while Manchester City have an off day, and all the luck goes with the visitors. If the stars align, who knows, but the home fans will rightly expect a successful return after the international break.

Talking Points

Sky Blues searching for perfection

Manchester City have had an eventful start to the 2020/21 campaign. They followed up a loss to Leicester City in the Community Shield and an opening day defeat to Spurs with back-to-back 5-0 victories over Norwich City and then Arsenal.

City then blew Leipzig away in the Champions League but could only draw at home to struggling Southampton. The Sky Blues hit back twice to earn a point in a 2-2 thriller against Liverpool in their last outing, and the way Guardiola’s side swept Chelsea away in an earlier game has seen the Sky Blues near perfection at times.

Kevin de Bruyne remains the team’s most complete player, though he is still looking to find full fitness and his best form, while Phil Foden and new boy Jack Grealish have been sensational at times. And Bernardo Silva, who was rumoured to be on his way in the summer, has started the campaign impressively.

This team has goals in it from just about everywhere, and 14 City players have already got on the scoresheet while the Sky Blue defence has conceded just three league goals, two against Liverpool, the joint lowest in the league alongside Chelsea.

Perfection would be this current set-up with a prolific striker added to the mix.

Is there any case for a Burnley win?

The pre-match Premier League 2021 odds overwhelmingly back a home win and it’s difficult to see how Burnley might upset the odds of 13.96 for an away win, but it’s 11 versus 11 and the visitors will be up for the challenge.

And this SBOTOP football writer is a Claret fanatic so if anyone can make a case for Sean Dyche’s team, it’s probably me! So here goes…

Burnley's Maxwel Cornet aims to continue scoring in the Premier League — Maxwel Cornet celebrates with Burnley teammate Chris Wood after scoring against Leicester City

1) The Clarets have done it before:

Back in 2015 Burnley stunned the Sky Blues with a home 1-0 win as George Boyd hit a beauty just on the hour and the Clarets backs-to-the-wall defence held out.

2) Burnley’s performances have been better than their results:

On its face, Burnley’s Premier League 2021 results look pretty grim, with just three draws and four defeats to show for their efforts. But they have been ahead in four of those games, conceding late, late equalisers to both Leeds and Leicester, while pushing Liverpool hard.

3) Cornet can stretch the Sky Blues

Clarets fans were excited by the news that Lyon winger Maxwel Cornet had signed for the club in August and his full debut showed just why, as he tormented the Leicester City defence and scored a beauty. And the Manchester City rearguard knows all about Cornet as the Ivory Coast star has scored four goals in three appearances against them.

4) Burnley are one of the few unfashionable teams to beat every member of the Big Six:

One thing that Sean Dyche’s team always has is self-belief, and his players have no respect for reputation, which is why top teams are generally happy to see their rivals up against the Clarets, who have beaten City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs in their time among the elite.

Well…are you convinced? Me neither!

History

The Sky Blues have totally dominated the head to head encounters this century, with 15 victories to Burnley’s one, while there have been three draws, and they have not lost at home to the Clarets in the last ten meetings.

The last meeting ended in a 2-0 win for Guardiola’s side as goals from Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling saw off the Clarets at Turf Moor.

Over the past six games, in all competitions, Manchester City have won three drawn two and lost once, while Burnley have won one, drawn three and lost two.

Betting Tip

	Manchester City vs Burnley	Burnley Asian Handicap +2.25 @ 2.05
	October 16, 22:00 (GMT+8)

Manchester City are overwhelming favourites to win this game at odds of 1.12 and the draw at 8.20, but Burnley are unbeaten in three and, without a league win this season, they will not see this as a free hit so City can expect a tricky afternoon.

A 2-0 home win at odds of 5.60 is the most likely outcome and Guardiola would be quite content with that.