The Premier League is set to take a back seat this weekend, as we see the return of the FA Cup. The famous competition produced some fantastic games during the third round weekend, and now, 32 teams will be battling it out for 16 places in the fifth round. Some would argue that the magic of the cup has disappeared in recent years, but we happen to believe that’s the furthest thing from the truth. Everyone wants to lift some silverware at some point throughout the course of the season, and let’s face it, there’s certainly more prestige in the FA Cup than the League Cup.

One of the more intriguing encounters that we’ll see this weekend is Manchester City vs Burnley, which many will see as a kind of ‘David vs Goliath’ clash. In truth, it isn’t really on that kind of scale, but it’s still worth noting that City vs Burnley is an interesting game regardless of how one sided you think it’s going to be. It’s a local derby and while they aren’t exactly bitter rivals or anything like that, there’s still enough animosity there to make for what should be a really fun meeting of two teams in very different positions.

The reigning Premier League champions Manchester City appear to have very realistic ambitions of winning four different competitions this season, and in many ways, there’s only a handful of teams that can really get in their way across European football. In this instance Pep Guardiola may not see the FA Cup as a complete priority, but the beauty about their team is that is doesn’t really matter. Even if he doesn’t see as much value in the competition, there’s still a very good chance they can ease their way all the way through to the final at Wembley.

Burnley, on the other hand, still have work to do in order to ensure they don’t slip back down into the Championship. The Clarets haven’t exactly had the most ideal season, failing to capitalise on their resounding success during the last campaign. In truth many fans will probably just see survival as the key target here, but if they can somehow overcome City, then you never know just how far they could go. Sure, it’s unlikely they’d win it all, but stranger things have happened in this competition over the years – and that’ll continue to be the case for many years to come.

Following on from their blip last month, Manchester City have been pretty flawless in January. They kicked things off in their last six game stretch with a 2-1 win over Liverpool, confirming that their title aspirations are still alive and well. They went on to absolutely torch Rotherham and Burton Albion in the FA & League Cup, scoring an insane 16 goals in the process. They then defeated Wolves 3-0 which was arguably even more impressive, before running through Huddersfield with the same scoreline. Their last game earlier in the week saw them beat Burton again to make the aggregate score for their tie 10-0. Yikes.

Burnley have actually enjoyed something of a minor resurgence themselves, although it certainly took them a long time to get into the swing of things. They started this recent six game stretch with a 5-1 loss at the hands of Everton, which kind of confirmed their need to make some changes. They went on to beat West Ham before seeing off the challenge of Huddersfield, and astonishingly, they made it four wins in four with triumphs over Barnsley and Fulham. A 0-0 draw against Watford soon followed, which is a pretty respectable result considering how well the Hornets are doing this season.

Throughout the course of history these two have actually traded wins much more regularly than you might think, which showcases how quick City’s rise has been in the last decade or so. Their first meeting happened back in 1897, and since then, the champions have won 45 games in comparison to Burnley’s 29 – with 26 draws in there too. The last meeting between the two teams took place back in October, when City defeated Burnley 5-0 in the kind of game that the visitors will be eager to forget about in a hurry.

Pep Guardiola doesn’t have all too many absences to worry about, with the most notable ones being Vincent Kompany and Claudio Bravo who are both unavailable. Benjamin Mendy is back to full fitness now and could come in for a start, in the wake of his appearance in the second leg against Burton. Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling are both being tipped to feature in this one ahead of Mahrez and Aguero, which kind of makes you wonder whether or not Guardiola is really going to go for it with his team selection. Why would he do such a thing? Probably to send a message to the rest of the teams left in the competition, we’d imagine.

The expectation is that Dyche will go heavy with his selections in midfield, in order to try and frustrate City in the middle of the park. Robbie Brady is available for selection in the wake of his recent suspension, although Lennon has been ruled out of this one. Johann Gudmundsson is a doubt courtesy of a thigh injury, but a final decision likely won’t be made until game day. Jack Cork has been tipped for a start, although the big story could well be in goal. Joe Hart is eager to feature in this one against his former club, but Nick Pope is also believed to be in the running.

Manchester City vs Burnley Betting Prediction

While we don’t think City are going to slaughter Burnley as badly as many fans and media members are anticipating, we can’t imagine they’re going to have all too many problems either. Pep will still field a team that is more than capable of progressing, and we can see them going straight at Burnley from the word go as a result. There’s no guarantee that Burnley won’t park the bus so we can see the scoreline being limited to just one goal heading into half time, but then, we’re expecting the floodgates to open.

In terms of a final scoreline we’re going to go for 5-1, and to be honest, we think that might be enough to cause some eyebrows to raise regarding Sean Dyche’s tenure as manager. We wholeheartedly believe that he’s the man for the job and that sacking him would be a giant mistake, but when has that ever mattered in the realms of football logic? We hope he’s given until at least the end of the season to turn things around, because there’s still a hell of a lot of room for growth at that club in the next few years.

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