Burnley vs Manchester City: Ake and Gvardiol in squad to face Clarets

By Ric Turner, Fri 11 August 2023 13:03


Burnley vs Manchester City: Ake and Gvardiol in squad to face ClaretsDias and Stones are rumoured injury doubts ahead of trip to Turf Moor

Burnley vs Manchester City

Competition: F.A. Premier League

Date: 8.00pm, Friday 11th August 2023

Venue: Turf Moor, Burnley

Referee: Craig Pawson Assistants: S Bennett, S Meredith Fourth Official: G Scott VAR: M Oliver

Odds: Burnley 7/1, Draw 4/1, Man City 1/3

Tickets: Sold out

TV: Sky Sports

Burnley

Manager: Vincent Kompany

Squad (from): Trafford, Franchi, Vigouroux, Muric, O'Shea, Taylor, Egan-Riley, Roberts, Ekdal, da Silva, Al Dakhil, Beyer, Dodgson, Cork, Gudmundsson, Brownhill, Twine, Cullen, Bastien, Redmond, Berge, Rodriguez, Foster, Manuel, Zaroury, Churlinov, Costellow, Agyei

Injured: Obafemi

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Form guide:

Manchester City

Manager: Pep Guardiola

Squad (from): Ederson, Ortega, Carson, Walker, Dias, Stones, Ake, Cancelo, Laporte, Gvardiol. Akanji, Lewis, Phillips, Kovacic, Grealish, Rodri, De Bruyne, Gomez, Silva, Perrone, Foden, Palmer, Haaland, Alvarez

Injured: None

Doubtful: Dias, Stones

Suspended: None

Form guide:

£78m signing Josko Gvardiol and Nathan Ake and both available for the trip to Turf Moor to face newly promoted Burnley. There are, however, doubts over the fitness of Ruben Dias and John Stones after unconfirmed reports of training ground injuries for the defensive duo.

Burnley, managed by City legend Vincent Kompany, will be full of confidence ahead of the game after winning the Championship in impressive style, and Pep Guardiola is anticipating a tough challange.

“Normally, the first games are difficult,” he said at Thursday's press conference.

“Especially against newly-promoted teams because they have nothing to lose, they have the energy and the dream for a good season.

“Vinny knows us well and has done an incredible job, changing the way Burnley played for the last few years with Sean Dyche.

“He destroyed the Championship, since day one it was win, win, win and it’s so difficult in this competition - he’s done an incredible job.

“So with the style from Vinny, it will be a tough game, especially at the beginning, it’s so difficult.

“You sometimes need time to reset, but we have to come back the way we were. It’s a question of time.”

City won their last game against at Turf Moor 2-0, with goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan. Overall City have won 55 of the 110 games played against the Clarets, with 25 draws and 30 defeats.

Predicted line-up: Ederson, Walker, Akanji, Gvardiol, Ake, Rodri, Kovacic, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Grealish, Haaland

Score prediction: Burnley 1 City 2