Burnley vs Manchester City preview

The 2023/24 season will kick off with a reunion of players and managers when EFL Championship 2022/23 season champions Burnley face 2022/23 treble winners Manchester City.

This champions vs champion game are highly anticipated because of the managers of both teams: Vincent Kompany and Pep Guardiola.

Kompany, who played under Guardiola for four years before jetting off to Belgium to retire and kickstart his managerial career, became a league champion in his first season in English football.

He did this by applying the lessons he picked up while under Guardiola’s tutelage and now, gets the rare opportunity to open a season against the man who greatly influenced his career.

The Spanish tactician will be proud of the moment as every master wishes to see his protégé succeed. However, Guardiola will not make it easy for the Belgian rookie manager because history waits for no one.

Guardiola will be looking to start the season on a good note as he did in the 2022/23 season. A big change has occurred in Manchester City with the exit of İlkay Gündoğan. Croatian Matteo Kovacic has come in to replace the German but the system is yet to be proven in a high-profile match.

Burnley will most likely be the former Chelsea man’s official debut which will help Guardiola put things into perspective as he plans the rest of his title defense.

For Kompany, it will be a baptism of fire. Having faced off against newly promoted teams and rookie managers in his time at the Etihad where he was captain for almost a decade, he fully understands what is at stake.

A good result against the defending champions is going to boost his profile greatly. However, we expect that he will apply caution when he comes up against his former boss.

Highly-rated Ireland international Michael Obafemi, formerly of Southampton, will be returning to the Premier League after spending the last two seasons at Swansea in the EFL Championship.

He will be joined by Nathan Redmond, his former teammate at Southampton, who spent last season at Turkish club Beşiktaş. It is unlikely that both players will get starts but they are in line for cameos.

Familiar faces like Wout Weghorst and Jay Rodriguez will be ready to face the challenge of the new Premier League season, however.

Match Tickets

The match will be played at the iconic Turf Moor, a ground that Manchester City fans are not too fond of because of the 2018/19 scare.

The match is scheduled for 11 August 2023 at 8 PM and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports and on other broadcast partners around the world. Tickets for the match have already gone up on sale on each club’s website.

The game continues a tradition of starting the season with away games for City fans.

Burnley vs Manchester City tickets are likely going to be a sellout because of the champion vs champion showdown of student and master that will take place.

For Manchester City fans, getting a hold of the tickets may be a little difficult, as a result. Reselling sites are most likely the way to go for people who want to watch this blockbuster Premier League curtain raiser.

Team news

Being the first game of the new season, it will be all about the transfer business both teams have been able to complete.

Burnley is still linked to a number of players as is Manchester City. Reports indicate that highly-rated defender Josko Gvardiol could become a Manchester player by the start of the season. If the transfer goes through, he will most likely be getting his Man City debut at a later date.

City has also lost Riyad Mahrez and has finally let go of 2018 FIFA World Cup winner Benjamin Mendy, who had a two-year tussle with the law leading to the suspension of his contract and eventual sale to Lorient in the French Ligue 1.

Vincent Kompany will be coming to the league with more debutants than veterans and will be counting on the experience of Redmond and Weghorst to help ground his young team.

More departures are still expected at both clubs. Portugal nationals Joāo Cancelo and Bernardo Silva could both leave for Barcelona as captain Gündoğan did. Kompany is also working on a number of loan deals for his players as he seeks to trim the squad to the exact number he wants to work with for the new Premier League season.

Lineups

Vincent Kompany’s Burnley already know what it is like to face Manchester City having been thrashed 6-0 in last season’s FA Cup.

Vincent Kompany has stuck to a 4-3-2-1 formation for most of his time as Burnley’s manager, however, and it is unlikely he will change this even against Guardiola.

Lyle Foster has been a mainstay in every starting XI in Burnley’s pre-season games despite his lack of returns since joining the club in January 2023 which indicates he is likely going to keep his place when City comes visiting. Arijanet Muric will keep his place in goal and he will be shielded by Kompany’s trusted center-back pairing of Ameen Al-Dakhil and Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

Burnley: Muric; Dodgson, Al-Dakhil, Harwood-Bellis, Roberts; Cork, Brownhill; Vitinho, Guðmundsson, Zaroury; Foster

Manchester City will start their season with the community shield final against Arsenal on 6 August. It is unlikely that Guardiola will name a drastically changed XI to face Burnley five days later.

In their pre-season fixtures, however, Guardiola has experimented with a 4-1-3-2 system in order to see how Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland both complement each other in attack. Both players were exceptional in their debut season for the Citizens but were rarely on the pitch at the same time.

Guardiola, however, is more likely to stick to his three-at-the-back formation which he used to recapture the title last season when Arsenal looked to be running away with it.

Manchester City: Ederson; Akanji, Dias, Ake; Stones, Rodri; Silva, Kovacic, De Bruyne, Grealish; Haaland

Prediction

If we are to go by their meeting earlier in the year in the FA Cup, this game is a straightforward win for the Premier League defending champions.

The changes to the squad are minimal but the core is still the same. The presence of Erling Haaland upfront for the Cityzens is also a big deal for the Burnley defense. Their composure will be tested greatly and the way they react could make or mar their start to the season.

Burnley have had a good run in pre-season as well and they will hope to continue on that foot. The problem that Kompany will have to deal with before the 11 August clash is the lack of goal threat from his strikers. However, like City, he has set his team up in such a way that everyone is a goal threat.

Manchester City will still take this champion vs champion tie, however.

Burnley 0-3 Manchester City.