Burnley vs Manchester City (Premier League): Match Preview, Team News, Head to Head, How to Watch | OneFootball

Manchester City head to East Lancashire in search of their next three points, which would see them move to top of the Premier League for the first time since the start of the season.

City came out 2-1 winners in a so-called ‘title deciding’ match against Arsenal at the weekend, closing the gap between themselves and Mikel Arteta’s side to just three points, having played a game less than the Gunners. 

Goals from Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland got the job done for the Blues, with the Frenchman opening the scoring just after a quarter of an hour, dazzling through Arsenal’s defence before slotting an effort into the bottom left corner.

Arsenal equalised just two minutes later after a bizarre and rare error from Gianluigi Donnarumma. Matheus Nunes’ throw-in to the Italian saw him delay in front of an onrushing Kai Havertz, who made a block to balloon the ball into the back of the net.

20 minutes into the second half, Erling Haaland got City back in front as Donnarumma hurled the ball out to Nico O’Reilly to progress into Arsenal’s half, ultimately crossing to find Haaland sliding in front of Gabriel to beat David Raya.

It was the Norwegian’s first Premier League goal since netting in a 3-0 win at home to Fulham over two months ago, while he would become engaged in an altercation with Gabriel in the final moments, who appeared to move his head towards the striker, receiving just a yellow card.

The full-time whistle blew with elation beaming round the Etihad Stadium as Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League continues to be carved out by the Blues. Here’s everything you need to know for Manchester City’s trip to Turf Moor on Wednesday!

Match Details

Burnley and Manchester City will face off on Wednesday 22nd April at 20:00 (BST) at Turf Moor. 

Match Officials

Andy Madley will take charge of the encounter as referee, the Premier League have confirmed.

You can find the full team of match officials here.

Team News

Scott Parker has five players ruled out of the match against Manchester City, with Josh Cullen, Zeki Amdouni (both knee), Hannibal Mejbri, Jordan Beyer (both thigh), and Connor Roberts (calf) all sidelined.

Axel Tuanzebe (heel) may be back in contention and will be assessed ahead of kick off, with Burnley to be condemned to relegation into the Championship should they be defeated by Manchester City.

As for Pep Guardiola’s players, the Blues were dealt a fresh injury blow as Rodri sustained a calf injury in the win against Arsenal, leaving him unavailable for the trip to Burnley.

Guardiola has also confirmed that Ruben Dias will be unavailable for selection in Lancashire, while John Stones has returned to first-team training. Josko Gvardiol continues to recover from a leg bone fracture sustained in January.

Press conference notes

On Nico Gonzalez: “Nico Gonzalez has helped us a lot, a lot this season in the absence of Rodri, and he’s helped us to be in the position that we are right now…” 

On media reaction to win vs Arsenal: “If [Kai] Havertz [scored] the header in the last minutes that we didn’t defend the cross, what would be our ‘mentality’? What would it be? I know perfectly what would our mentality be; ‘They don’t have composure, it’s not an experienced team’.

“People talk about, ‘Ah they have two [shots hitting] the post’, we had two against the post too. The game was so tight, and the margins define many, many things…” 

Head-to-Head

The last meeting between the two sides was a 5-1 win for Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium – the Blues’ biggest win this season. 

Manchester City have not travelled to Turf Moor for almost three years, with the last such encounter coming in the first Premier League match of the 2023/24 season, starting a title-winning campaign with a 3-0 win against the Clarets.  

Erling Haaland has scored in each of his three starts against Burnley, scoring seven goals in those matches. 

Manchester City have been victorious against Burnley in the last 14 meetings, boasting an aggregate score 51-3 in that time.  

Burnley have scored in their last two meetings against Manchester City. 

Statistics

Manchester City can return to the top of the Premier League table for the first time since August with a win, having spent just six days in first place this season. On the contrary, Arsenal have spent 208 days at the top of the pile in the 248 days of the season.

Erling Haaland will be looking to add to his tally of 23 Premier League goals this season in the hunt for his third Golden Boot trophy. The Norwegian has only scored two open play goals in the league this calendar year.  

If both Manchester City and Arsenal are to win all of their remaining games this season, the Premier League title will be decided on goal difference. Arsenal currently have the advantage on that front with +37 to City’s +36, however City have played one match less. 

Burnley will be relegated to the Championship if they lose to Manchester City.

The Clarets have been relegated back to the Championship straight after promotion in their last two seasons in the Premier League, however they have won promotion back to the Premier League at their first attempt in each of those scenarios.

How to watch

For viewers in the United Kingdom, the match will be shown live via Now TV, Sky GO, Sky GO Extra and Sky Sports Main Event. 

Viewers residing in the United States can watch the match via USA NetworkUNIVERSO. 

A full list of global TV listings can be found here!  

City Xtra will have full live coverage available on X/Twitter, Facebook and Instagram throughout the matchday, with content also on cityxtra.co.uk!