Man City Team News: Injuries, suspensions and line-up vs Burnley

Sam Lee

Man City Team News: Injuries, suspensions and line-up vs Burnley image

Manchester City will look to continue their fine winning run against Burnley on Saturday, with Blues boss Pep Guardiola perhaps looking to refresh his line-up.

The Catalan has picked the same starting XI for the last three matches but has strong options on the bench and may make some changes.

Burnley, however, have a fine record away from home this season.


MAN CITY INJURIES


Vincent Kompany is not ready to return from his calf problem, having not trained since the middle of September, and Guardiola could not put a timescale on his recovery during his Friday press conference.

Benjamin Mendy is out until late April at the earliest with a knee injury.

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MAN CITY SUSPENSIONS


Neither teams have any suspensions to worry about.


MAN CITY POTENTIAL STARTING LINE-UP


It remains to be seen how, or even if, Guardiola reshuffles his team. With a Carabao Cup game against Wolves coming up on Tuesday, the Catalan may prefer to make wholesale changes next time and stick with largely the same team that has started the last three games for Burnley's visit.

But while the Clarets have a formidable record away from home - they have played Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and Everton and taken eight points - Guardiola knows he has quality options, particularly in midfield and attack, and he has often talked about keeping his players fresh.

The back five could well stay untouched, although Danilo has some chance of dislodging Kyle Walker at right-back.

Ilkay Gundogan's return from a knee injury was delayed slightly by a small ankle knock but he is ready to come back into the team, and he should start at least one of the next two matches. He could take up any of the three midfield roles but it seems unlikely that Guardiola would rest either Kevin De Bruyne or David Silva for this league game, given their importance to City's overall play.

Bernardo Silva has struggled to get into the side, with Guardiola preferring De Bruyne and David Silva in midfield and the direct runnning and increased goal threat of Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling in attack. Neither of City's speedy wingers played particularly well while in possession outside the box against Napoli, however, and with Burnley sure to sit deep at the Etihad Stadium there may be room for Bernardo Silva's combination of quick feet and quick thinking.

Bernardo Silva 11/10 to score anytime

Sergio Aguero is fit enough to return from a rib injury and he may be given a game, partly to give Gabriel Jesus a break.

Man City possible XI


BURNLEY TEAM NEWS


Goalkeeper Tom Heaton is out with a shoulder injury, while John Walters is missing with a knee problem.

Nahki Wells and Dean Marney are recovering from long-term injuries and are unlikely to feature.

The Clarets did not win a Premier League away game until the end of April last season, and had only managed four draws before that, but have already beaten Chelsea and Everton this season and taken a point from trips to Liverpool and Tottenham.


OPTA MATCH FACTS


  • Despite losing only one of their six Premier League meetings with Burnley (W3 D2 L1), the Citizens have failed to keep a clean sheet against the Clarets.Chris Hughton has only won one of his seven opening day league matches as a manager, a 1-0 win for Brighton over Nottingham Forest in 2015 (D3 L3).
  • City have averaged 3.2 goals-per- game across their last 10 league meetings with Burnley, including hitting them for six on two occasions (6-0 March 1999, 6-1 April 2010).
  • Manchester City have won their last three home league games all by a five-goal margin, with only two teams in the history of English league football winning four in a row by five or more goals – Aston Villa in September 1899 and Everton in November 1931.
  • Man City are the first English top-flight team to score 29 goals in their first eight league games of the season since Everton in 1894-95 (30). The record for most goals scored after nine top-flight games is jointly held by Sunderland in 1892-93 and Blackburn in 1889-90 (40 goals).
     
  • This is the first time that a team managed by Pep Guardiola has scored 29 goals from their opening eight games of the season. Only in 2015-16 (24 pts with Bayern Munich) has Guardiola won more points from the opening eight games of the season than in this campaign with Man City (22).
     
  • Burnley’s Nick Pope has the best save percentage of any Premier League goalkeeper so far this season (91.7%) and has conceded just two goals in his 414 minutes on the pitch in the competition in 2017-18.

TV COVERAGE & KICK-OFF TIME


Kick off is 15:00 BST and it is not available to watch on UK TV.

Sam Lee

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