Premier League: Manchester City Slowly Ramping Up

Manchester City vs Burnley

The long wait could finally be over. Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne have a chance to play together for the first time since KDB’s injury in their Premier League opener five months ago.

Despite missing one or both Haaland and De Bruyne, Pep has managed to keep the ship afloat, keeping it within dangerous striking distance from the league-leading Liverpool. The treble winners can be in for a dominant second half of the season if they get their key players back together on the field.

Meanwhile, Kompany’s Clarets can’t seem to catch a break, suffering exits from the FA Cup and EFL Cup while simply failing to garner points in the top flight.

Both sides have polar opposite narratives and goals for the second half of the season, but their clash at Etihad Stadium is still must-see TV. Expect Premier League 2024 highlights and fireworks.

Talking Points

Sky Blues may be in full force against the Clarets

City’s No. 9 has been sidelined since injuring his foot against Aston Villa in November, and De Bruyne has been out for the majority of the season due to a hamstring injury during their opening day win against Burnley.

KDB returned to action during City’s FA Cup third-round clash as a substitute. The Belgian winger immediately made his presence felt by dishing out a beautiful assist, which came from a patented KDB cross to Jeremy Doku, to give the Sky Blues their fifth and final goal against Huddersfield.

As for Haaland, manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed that his striker may make his return against the Clarets at Etihad Stadium.

“We tried to avoid it but now he feels good, we’ll give him three or four days and hopefully he can play against Burnley and he can play his first minutes, we’ll see.”

To give credit where credit is due, Pep and the rest of the Sky Blues kept their grace and form even without their world-famous one-two combo.

Man City are slowly climbing their way back to the summit of the Premier League table, where they’re currently sitting in the second spot with 43 points with a game in hand, just five points behind league leaders Liverpool.

“We are stronger with Kevin and Erling, but we cannot cry and wait five months (when they are missing)—we have to move forward, and we have done that,” Pep boasted.

Unfortunately for the former City skipper, Vincent Kompany, and his Clarets, they may be so lucky to be the first outfit to face Manchester City in full force since KDB’s fall on Matchday 1.

Burnley can’t catch a break

By the looks of it, Kompany’s boys are poised for relegation by the end of the season. The Clarets are the second-worst team in the top flight, bragging just 12 points after 21 matches this term.

They did have a convincing run in the EFL Cup, where they managed to reach the Round of 16 by demolishing Nottingham Forest and Salford City without conceding a single goal. They were abruptly pulled back to earth by the Toffees, who gave them a taste of their own medicine, crushing the Clarets with a 3-0 clean sheet win.

It seems like there’s a strong scent of desperation from the Clarets to survive this campaign without being relegated when the season ends. To their defence, Kompany’s boys have been playing competitive football since their 0-2 win against Fulham before Christmas. But that’s when their luck ran out.

They were poised to draw with the scorching Aston Villa before the new year, but a penalty during the last minute of regulation cost them the match.

Adding insult to injury, they were primed to bag three points during the bout against Luton Town, where they found themselves leading by the end of regulation, but Luton’s controversial equaliser in added time forced Kompany and his boys to settle for one league point.

It doesn’t help their cause that they’ll face treble winners Manchester City in their next Premier League clash.

History

Burnley have been able to win just one bout against the Sky Blues since 2009, while City triumphed 17 times in their 21 head-to-heads, which is probably why SBOTOP slapped City with such a dominant price tag.

In terms of goal scoring, they’ve managed to tally a total of 78 goals in just 21 head-to-head matches, with Manchester City scoring 66 goals and Burnley scoring a respectable 17 goals.

With a total of 20 goals in their last five contests, my betting tip of over 3.5 gives light to how big of an aggregate these outfits can produce when facing each other.

Their most recent matchup was back in August of last year, when Manchester City pulled off a 0-3 clean sheet victory, piercing the hearts of Burnley fans in their own stadium. Haaland was the main culprit in the thrashing, scoring a brace, while Cascante put the nail on the coffin with a goal in minute 75.

Betting Tip

Given the disparity in their calibre, the Premier League 2024 odds ruthlessly priced the Sky Blues at 1.097 to win, which, may be a sure thing for most, but holds little to no value if punters would want to maximize their winnings.

If you’re really keen on betting on the money line, the draw price for this match is 8.50, which may be pushing it, but it’s not as farfetched at Burnley winning at 14.00.

Given Manchester City’s offencive potency and Burnley’s inability to defend, the total goals of over 3.5 at 1.94, in my opinion, is the sweet spot for both value and excitement.

The Sky Blues have scored 12 goals in their last five Premier League bouts, while Burnley netted five in their last five and conceded eight as well. Which just shows that a score line of over 3.5 goals isn’t as lofty of an ask as it seems.

 

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