Burnley vs Man City: Preview and Prediction

Sunday 28th April 2019

England Premier League
Sunday 28th April 2019
Kick off at 2:05pm BST
Venue: Turf Moor

Match Preview:

Manchester City were expected to slip up in their last two league games and let the door open for Liverpool to go on and win the league. City had to face not only 3^rd place Tottenham but also Manchester United away from home. The club passed both tests, winning both, scoring 3 goals and not conceding and yet they come into this game still in 2^nd and two points behind Liverpool.

Such has been the form of both City and Liverpool it is a validated statement to say if City were to drop points on Sunday against Burnley then the league would likely be Liverpool’s. The likelihood of City not winning this game must be fairly small considering how brilliant they have been, but this is football and we never quite know.

The other factor is that Burnley are in very good form and come into this game not only with a winning attitude but with a lot of confidence too. Forget their league standing of 15^th for a moment, Sean Dyche’s team would be 4^th based on recent form.

Perhaps the only criticism if we were being cynical about Burnley is that their good form has come against teams in the bottom half of the league. Having said that their last match was impressive as they drew 2-2 at Chelsea, who are chasing a top 4 place and were good for their result. They are also at home for this match where they have won back to back games, although we shouldn’t forget they have also lost 2 in their last 4 home games against Leicester and Crystal Palace.

City have been City and their form like Liverpool’s has been consistently brilliant. What we have seen is that both teams have become better with each other pushing the other one. One negative about City’s recent matches is perhaps they are not scoring enough goals- they are still averaging 2 goals a game over the past month, but we haven’t seen a big score from the team in a while.

Away from home Pep Guardiola’s team have lost 3 games this season but they have won their last 5 in a row and have the 2^nd best away record in the league. Alongside Tottenham they have scored the most goals on the road with 33.

Team News:

Burnley: Phillip Bardsley has recovered from his leg injury and will be assessed ahead of this game. Peter Crouch will likely miss this game but should be back next week after his appendix operation. Aaron Lennon is close to returning from his long term knee injury but may not be risked in this match

Manchester City: Kevin De Bruyne looks set to miss this game but Guardiola is keeping coy about the Belgian who has a muscle injury. Fernandinho has a better chance to play after his muscle injury and will be assessed. Ilkay Gundogan remains 50/50 after his knock in the teams last game

Burnley vs Man City Head to Head:

In the last 2 meetings between the sides Manchester City have scored 10 goals and Burnley 0.

The last time the teams played at Burnley the match ended 1-1.

Burnley have not beaten Manchester City since 2015 which was 8 games ago.

Burnley vs Man City Prediction:

Some football pundits like Gary Neville have suggested this will be a tough and testing game for Manchester City. But who are they kididng? Perhaps they have a product to sell - because the gulf in class of the both teams playing largly makes this is an epic miss match. Yes Burnley will fight and won’t lie down and will be able to create chances of their own, but it will be limited. This is basically Burnley v Barcelona without Lionel Messi, and City will most likely get 3 points. The only question mark over Guardiola’s side is that they are not scoring enough goals. But this should be a very routine win by City, which will put them a point ahead of Liverpool with 2 games to play.

Burnley vs Man City Betting Tips:

Manchester City to be winning at half time at 1.50

Anytime goalscorer: Leroy Sane at 2.25