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Football tips: Friday Night Football
3pts Josh Brownhill 2+ fouls at 5/6 (Sky Bet)
A baptism of fire awaits Vincent Kompany’s Burnley side, Manchester City head to Turf Moor for the inaugural fixture of the new Premier League campaign.
Both player and club will be looking to re-acquaint themselves with the division and are all too familiar with the threat Pep Guardiola’s side pose having faced off in the FA Cup last season. A game City won 6-0, Erling Haaland scored half the goals.
There is plenty to be positive about in Lancashire though.
Since the turn of the century, no side to break the 100 points barrier in the Championship has immediately been relegated.
According to our ratings, Burnley trump Everton, Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United and Luton, and that does not take into account their transfer business.
The Clarets have laced their squad with real quality this summer. Goalkeeper James Trafford did not concede a single goal at the Euro U21 Championships. Sander Berge, Dara O’Shea and Michael Obafemi were all stand out performers in the second tier last campaign.
What are the best bets?
JOSH BROWNHILL was one of the Clarets stand out performers last campaign.
The midfielder had a direct hand in 15 goals and assists, the highest return of his career.
Kompany’s side saw the most possession in the Championship last season (64%) but they will have to get re-accustomed to life without the ball this campaign, especially this Friday, as the treble winners are in town. This is why Brownhill’s defensive figures are worth a look.
Brownhill topped his sides charts for tackles won (59) and fouls committed (65), the latter was the fourth highest tally in the second tier.
He committed 2+ fouls in 41% of his appearances last season and I think he will rack up a few on Friday as he competes against Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne and co.
BuildABet @ 20/1
- Both teams to score
- Josh Brownhill 2+ fouls
- Bernardo Silva to be carded
The new rules should see a flurry of cards this August in the top flight.
The clamp down on the dark arts meant Football League officials significantly lowered the threshold for bookings last weekend. Any time wasting antics or dissent was reprimanded.
Bernardo Silva fits the bill for a booking here and his price to be shown a card boosts the BuildABet odds significantly.
Sky Bet's price of 11/2 dwarfs other bookmakers.
Score prediction: Burnley 1-3 Manchester City (Sky Bet odds: 9/1)
Team news
Michael Obafemi is the only confirmed absentee for the hosts. Who Kompany will actually select is tricky to decipher.
Burnley’s boss has experimented with personnel and a number of different formations in pre-season. James Trafford is expected to start in between the sticks and Jay Rodriguez’s experience may see him preferred to Zeki Amdouni upfront.
Josko Gvardiol is not expected to slot straight into the City XI, Nathan Ake is a doubt but Kevin De Bruyne should be fit enough having come off the bench in the Community Shield final.
Predicted line-ups
Burnley: Trafford; Roberts, Beyer, O'Shea, Vitinho; Cork, Cullen; Redmond, Brownhill, Zaroury; Rodriguez
Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Akanji; Kovacic, Rodri, De Bruyne; Bernardo Silva, Haaland, Grealish
Match facts
- According to Opta, Man City have a 90.2% chance of becoming the first side in Premier League history to win four consecutive titles.
- Last campaign, Man City conceded in each of their away trips the newly promoted sides, Nottingham Forest, Fulham, Bournemouth.
- Burnley have lost their last 11 games in all competitions against City by an aggregate score line of 41-1.
- Manchester City have only failed to win 2 of their last 12 opening day fixtures, both of which came against Spurs.
Odds correct at 1200 BST (10/08/23)
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