Premier League: The Greatest Show on Earth Begins

Burnley vs Manchester City

It’s here folks…the 2023/24 Premier League season is finally upon us and there is a blockbuster clash ready to open the campaign when Pep Guardiola’s champions head to East Lancashire on Friday to meet Vincent Kompany’s Burnley.

Manchester City are aiming to be the first team to win four Premier League titles on the bounce and they face a Burnley side back in the top flight after a season in the Championship. The Clarets took the second tier by storm, accumulating 101 points and winning promotion with a record seven games remaining.  And now Kompany’s side are ready to take on the Premier League again.

The Premier League 2023 betting odds are backing the Sky Blues to win the 2023/24 title at a price of 1.68, with Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal the nearest contenders with the SBOTOP stats team pricing the Gunners at 5.75 and Liverpool at 9.00. Guardiola won’t count on winning this tricky opener but he will be confident of winning the long race. 

Talking Points

Will City’s Croatian recruits appear on Friday?  

A couple of departures from Manchester City have made a noise in the Premier League 2023 news with Ilkay Gundogan moving to Barcelona and Riyad Mahrez heading to the Saudi Pro League. But while city rivals Manchester United are working on putting a competitive squad together the current Premier League kings have moved smartly in the market to gradually improve their squad. The loss of Mahrez is less of a problem when you consider the riches Guardiola has in creative attacking players. And Gundogan’s departure has made room for former Chelsea star Mateo Kovacic to take his place.

New signing Kovacic is an impressive box to box player who will play with the intensity that Guardiola expects from his teams and make space for the likes of Jack Grealish and Phil Foden to operate; and he is joined by another Croatian international as Josko Gvardiol has also signed for City this summer. The 21 year old central defender impressed at the 2022 World Cup and was a dominant figure in Red Bull Leipzig’s Bundesliga campaign. 

The two Croats could make their debuts at Turf Moor and they may also be joined by a City stalwart who looked likely to be exiting the Etihad this summer. The press in Manchester are reporting that Kyle Walker has agreed to stay at the Etihad having previously agreed to a move to FC Bayern and he will play another big part on City’s defence of their title.

Kompany’s cultural revolution

The Burnley that Vincent Kompany brings to the Premier League is a far cry from the band of brothers that fought their way through six consecutive top flight campaigns under Sean Dyche. This Burnley is less backs-to-the-wall and more an entertaining, free flowing football side which passes crisply, moves opponents from side to side and scores goals for fun. It will be difficult for the Clarets can dominate possession in the Premier League as they did in the second tier, but they will not be easy to beat. Kompany insists he has retained the famous toughness of Burnley while adding real quality, and in Jordan Beyer and Ameen Al-Dakhil they have a centre back pairing which will sit happily in the Premier League.

And with young flair players such as Moroccan star Anass Zaroury, Scott Twine and Zeki Andouni in the side this is an exciting team to watch.            

History

In the 22 games played between these two teams this century, City have won 18, Burnley have won one and there have been three draws. In defence of the Clarets they have met the Sky Blues during the best period in their history.

The two teams met last season in the quarter finals of the FA Cup and Erling Braut Haaland hit a hat-trick as the Citizens won 6-0. Kompany said that was a great experience for his team so it will be interesting to see how much they have learned.

Burnley’s last home win against City came in 2015 as George Boyd hit home a second half sizzler to lift the roof off Turf Moor.  

Betting Tip

The first weekend of a new campaign always throws up some surprises and this is the best time for Burnley to take on the reigning champions. But can they really spring a major surprise at odds of 7.33? Maybe not but a draw at 4.84 wouldn’t really shock anyone.

A price of 1.28 on Manchester City is not an attractive proposition and I’m sure Guardiola will be delighted to escape Turf Moor with a narrow win. So I’m backing a one goal win for the Sky Blues and a correct score-line of 1-2 at odds of 7.52 may be worth a closer look.     

 

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