Manchester City will travel to the Turf Moor in a bid to bring a semblance of consistency to their league campaign. They will face 12th placed Burnley who have shown their ability to frustrate and eventually thwart much-esteemed opposition this season already. Their 2-0 win over Liverpool, their 0-0 draw at Old Trafford and a 2-1 win over Everton clearly depicts the fact that Manchester City are in for a tough ride.
City are fresh from a disjointed but ultimately fruitful 1-1 draw against Borussia Monchengladbach which saw them progress to the Round of 16 with a match to spare. This has been their 2nd successive unglamorous display which has yielded useful results and although Pep might beg to differ, City need to retain this ability to win ugly this season. They will face teams who are willing to defend with 10 men behind the ball for the whole duration of the match and in those cases, it won’t be easy to always get the perfect goal.
With the sheer number of matches the players will be playing, they should pocket 3 points in relatively early season matches like these as it will only get tougher as the season progresses. City are in for a difficult December and a win is paramount here.
PREDICTED MANCHESTER CITY XI VS BURNLEY (4-1-4-1)
DEFENCE
Claudio Bravo will be in goal and along with the City defence, needs to do something about their lack of clean sheets. Zabaleta is likely to be at right-back while Sagna also offers an alternative. John Stones has been coming in for quite a bit of stick lately and he will look to regain confidence in this fixture. Kolarov or Otamendi will partner him while Clichy has a good chance to line-up at left-back if Kolarov is afforded a centre-back role.
MIDFIELD
Fernandinho will once again sit at the base of midfield and screen the defence. He has been a regular fixture for this City side and will again be pivotal to their aim of retaining possession and recycling it. Yaya Toure has a strong chance of earning another start after his last week’s heroics and might take Gundogan’s place in the advanced midfield area. David Silva is likely to retain his place and will be confident after the goal in Germany.
ATTACK
Kevin de Bruyne will likely start on the left flank where Nolito offers an alternative while Sterling might start, with Navas and Sane other options. Sergio Aguero will look to return to his goal scoring ways whilst leading the attack.
