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!
Burnley and Manchester City will face off on Wednesday 22nd April at 20:00 (BST) at Turf Moor.
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.
Match Officials: Andy Madley to referee Burnley vs Manchester City
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.
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…”
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.