Burnley face Manchester City at home tonight, as the visitors will be looking to secure three very important points in the title race.
Playing at Turf Moor, Burnley will be going into this game hoping to put a spanner in Manchester City’s works, as the Cityzens edge closer and closer to league leaders and title favourites Arsenal.
Burnley come into this game sitting miserably in 19th place on just 20 points after 33 games played so far.
Manchester City sit second in the league after having picked up three massive points after their win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on the weekend, where they demonstrated the pure class that their squad and Pep Guardiola are capable of producing when it comes to crunch time.
Chasing Arsenal, who sit first in the league on 70 points after 33 games played, City will surely go into this game confident that they can minimise the gap between second and first, with a win over Burnley tonight leaving them on the same points as the Gunners.
In fact, not only would a win leave them on the same points as Arsenal, but a win with more than 2 goals would see the Cityzens go top of the league for the first time since August.
Burnley, meanwhile, are sure to be relegated to the Championship following a lacklustre season under manager Scott Parker, who had previously been relegated from the Premier League with Fulham back during their horrendous 2020/21 campaign.
LINEUPS:
Burnley:
Mainstay Dubravka starts in goal, with former City star Kyle Walker starting at right back in a back-five defence alongside Ekdal, Bashir Humphreys, Esteve and Hartman.
James Ward-Prowse and Laurent occupy the midfield positions, flanked by Tchaouna and Anthony on the wings.
Dutchman Zian Flemming starts in the centre-forward position tonight after having scored 9 goals in the league this season, hoping he can do some damage to what seems to be a formidable Manchester City defence.
Manchester City:
Italian Giant and Champions League winner with PSG last season, Gianluigi Donnarumma starts in goal for City, supported by Matheus Nunes and Ait-Nouri and right back and left back, with Marc Guehi and Khusanov partnering as the two centre-halves.
An in-form Nico O’Reilly and Bernardo Silva will start as the midfield two, providing balance behind the attack.
Meanwhile, Rayan Cherki, Semenyo and Doku start in the attacking positions, spearheaded by the Norwegian superstar striker Erling Haaland, who has scored a whopping 23 league goals this season so far.
Pep Guardiola will see this as a must-win, and the odds are indeed favoured toward his side.
This is a monumental moment of the season, as in the event of a Manchester City victory, they would knock Arsenal off their 1st-place perch and take control of their league destiny, forcing the Gunners to chase them instead.
I expect this to be a highly emotional game for both teams.
20:00pm Kick-off at Turf Moor.
