Manchester City starting lineup against Burnley in the Wednesday Premier League match

Pep Guardiola has to get his Manchester City side ready for a quick turnaround after their massive win against Arsenal over the weekend. They travel to face relegation threatened Burley from Turf Moor knowing they can take the outright lead in the table with a win by two goals or more.

No Rodri, Dias at Turf Moor

A major piece of the Pep puzzle will be missing tonight from Burnley as Rodri has been ruled out for tonight’s match which could reshape the landscape of the league table. Rodri suffered a groin injury against Arsenal and has been ruled out for the match against the 19th placed side in the league. “I think for tomorrow he [Rodri] won’t be ready. For the next games we will see. Ruben Dias is not ready yet.”

Ruben Dias will miss his fifth straight match with a muscle injury and will be joined by fellow defender Josko Gvardiol who has been out since January with a broken leg. Dias is Guardiola’s most relied upon defender having played 25 of the 33 Premier League matches this season. Aside from those three guys, Pep has a relatively healthy squad for this time of the season.

Erling Haaland mentioned before the Arsenal match that having City are in an usual position this year. The fact that they have been out of the Champions League since March means they have a relatively light schedule. “Right now, I’m quite calm,” he told Sky Sports. ”It’s one game a week, which is really unusual for us.” This is one of those rare weeks that they will have more than one match. After the Arsenal match on Sunday, they play tonight at Turf Moor and then have an FA Cup semifinal against Southampton on Saturday.

Possible XI

After working so hard to put themselves in position to take the lead, Pep will most likely come out with his strongest side available. There is no keeping one eye on the FA Cup semifinal this weekend. They have been trailing Arsenal for almost 270 days this season, and finally have a chance to pounce.

Pep will almost certainly go with Donnarumma in goal. In the back, O´Reilly Guehi, Khusanov and Nunes at left back. In place of Rodri, Tijjani Reijnders could fill in for the former Ballon d’Or winner with Bernardo Silva as his partner in the middle. Cherki will be in front of them after a brilliant performance against Arsenal with Doku and Semenyo on the wings. Up top Haaland will be looking to add to his 23 Premier League goals against a Burnley side that has conceded a league high 67 goals this campaign.

City know that a win will put them level them with Arsenal at 70 points at the top of the table. If they win by more than a goal they would take the goal differential advantage and claim the top spot in the league. It’s a massive chance for the Citizens who were nine points back of Arsenal just a few weeks ago.

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