Manchester City v Burnley preview: Sergio Aguero 'ready' to play as he targets record
Saturday 21 October 2017 13:58, UK
Sergio Aguero is "ready" to play, but could once again find himself on the bench as Man City host Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Argentina striker - who is one short of equalling the club's goalscoring record - has been an unused substitute for the past two games after recovering from a broken rib sustained in a car crash.
Pep Guardiola confirmed in his press conference that Aguero is "ready for tomorrow", but has named an unchanged side for the last three games in all competitions and could do so again on Saturday.
Man City will be looking to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table, where they currently lead rivals Man Utd by three points, but will face a strong Burnley side.
The Clarets have made their best start to a Premier League campaign after eight games with 13 points on the board, which is the same as Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.
Team news
Although Aguero is fit, Vincent Kompany remains on the sidelines with a calf injury while left-back Benjamin Mendy (knee) is a long-term absentee.
Sean Dyche is expected to choose from an unchanged squad this weekend with no new injury or suspension worries.
Jonathan Walters (knee) and Nahki Wells (foot), plus Dean Marney (knee) are all edging closer to full fitness, but remain sidelined.
Opta stats
Despite losing only one of their six Premier League meetings with Burnley (W3 D2 L1), the Citizens have failed to keep a clean sheet against the Clarets.
This is Burnley's best start to a Premier League campaign after eight games (13 points), and their highest return at this stage of a top-flight season since 1973-74 (15 points, adjusted 3pts/win).
Manchester City have won their last three home league games all by a five-goal margin, with only two teams in the history of English league football winning four in a row by five or more goals - Aston Villa in September 1899 and Everton in November 1931.
Man City are the first English top-flight team to score 29 goals in their first eight league games of the season since Everton in 1894-95 (30). The record for most goals scored after nine top-flight games is jointly held by Sunderland in 1892-93 and Blackburn in 1889-90 (40 goals).
Gabriel Jesus has scored 13 goals in his 15 starts in the Premier League - only Mick Quinn (14) and Andrew Cole (15) netted more goals in their first 15 starts in PL history.
Burnley's Nick Pope has the best save percentage of any Premier League goalkeeper so far this season (91.7%) and has conceded just two goals in his 414 minutes on the pitch in the competition in 2017-18.
Paul Merson's prediction
Burnley have done great away from home, and I know City only beat Napoli 2-1, but they could have been 5-0 up at one point. And that's a proper Napoli team, they could have blown them away. City are just phenomenal at the moment.
I don't like to say big scores, because it seems disrespectful to other teams, and Burnley have done really well, but I just can't see how they can stop City.
PAUL PREDICTS: 4-0 (13/2 with Sky Bet)
Betting
Manchester City are again Sky Bet's bankers of the weekend, priced at 1/10 to beat visitors Burnley, who are 22/1 to cause an upset or 17/2 to steal a point. Sergio Aguero is tied with Gabriel Jesus in the first goalscorer betting, with the pair both priced at 9/4, while Chris Wood is considered Burnley's main threat at 10/1 to break the deadlock. Man City vs Burnley is included in this weekend's Super 6 round, with £250,000 up for grabs. Enter your predictions for free here.
