Overview
4 weeks after defeating Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley, Manchester City continued to affirm their leading candidate for the Premier League title with a 2-1 victory over this opponent at the Etihad.
The goals of Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland not only brought in 3 important points but also helped Pep Guardiola's team maintain huge pressure to the top of the table.
Immediately after the final whistle, Man City fans hung banners "Panic on the streets of London" - inspired by The Smiths' famous song - as a mockery towards Arsenal, a team that is declining with a four-game losing streak in the domestic league. In contrast to their opponent, Man City is showing terrifyingly stable form when they have only lost 1 in their last 20 matches in the Premier League, with 13 wins and 6 draws.
That stability is even more clearly shown in the final stage of the season, when Man City is still unbeaten in April in the Premier League since 2021, with 30 wins and 3 draws. This is the time when Guardiola's team often accelerates strongly, and currently all psychological and form advantages are leaning towards them.
Although still 3 points behind Arsenal, Man City still has one match to play and will have a chance to take the lead when playing away at Burnley's Turf Moor in midweek. Since the beginning of December, they have been the team with the most away points in the league with 21 points, showing stability even when away from Etihad. Head-to-head record also completely supports Man City when they won 14 out of the last 15 matches against Burnley in the Premier League, scoring 45 goals and conceding only 6 goals.
In the opposite direction, Burnley is facing an inevitable relegation prospect. The 1-4 defeat to Nottingham Forest last weekend continued to prolong this team's poor performance, as they have lost 45 of their last 71 matches in the Premier League in two seasons.
Notably, Burnley lost the lead and conceded 4 goals in just over half an hour of the final match, showing a collapse in both expertise and spirit.
Scott Parker's team has only won 1 in the last 24 matches and has not had a win in 12 consecutive home matches in the Premier League.
Against an opponent at the peak of their form, Burnley has almost no chance to create a surprise. They have lost all 11 recent encounters with Man City - the longest defeat streak in the club's head-to-head history - while Scott Parker himself has also lost all 5 encounters with Guardiola in the Premier League with a total score of 1-16.
In the context that one side is accelerating strongly for the championship race while the other is on the verge of relegation, the confrontation at Turf Moor is likely to continue to clearly reflect the gap between the two teams at the present time.
Expected lineup:
Dubravka, Walker, Ekdal, Laurent, Esteve, Hartman, Florentino, Ugochukwu, Ward-Prowse, Anthony, Flemming.
Man City: Donnarumma, Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, O'Reilly, Gonzalez, Bernardo, Semenyo, Cherki, Doku, Haaland.
The match between Burnley and Man City takes place at 2:00 AM on April 23rd (Vietnam time).
