Trouble-Free at Turf Moor

By Jess Barcroft

Photo credited to Sky Sports News.

Manchester City travelled to Burnley’s Turf Moor to open up the 2023/24 Premier League season and came away with an emphatic 3-0 victory. The Clarets, having dominated the Championship with an incredible 101 points, hosted the European Champions but failed to come away with any form of result.

A brace from the 2022/23 Golden Boot Winner, Erling Haaland, set City alight with the first goal coming in just the 4th minute, thanks to an assist from the UEFA Champions League Final goal scorer, Rodri, which began City’s pre-eminence against the Lancashire side. However, after just 23 minutes City were dealt with a huge blow, as captain Kevin De Bruyne had to be substituted due to a hamstring problem, with Pep Guardiola saying that the Belgian will be “out for a while” and further scans will go ahead this following Monday to assess the extent of the problem.

Mateo Kovacic was the player to replace De Bruyne, as the Croatian made his Premier League debut for Manchester City. The ex-Chelsea midfielder shone for the Blues, as he looked effervescent and comfortable in his position. City also got their first cameo of new signing, Josko Gvardiol, who made a 15-minute cameo for the blues which saw City come away from the game without conceding. A promising look from Cole Palmer too, who is rumoured to be leaving Manchester this summer, could this potentially sway Pep Guardiola to keep him around?

Burnley’s Anass Zaroury was the first player to be dismissed in the Premier League this season in the 94th minute of the game, after a reckless challenge on City’s Kyle Walker, despite only being substituted onto the pitch on the 61st minute. This however led to no advantage for City as they were able to see the game out comfortably.

Ex-Manchester City captain and current Burnley Manager, Vincent Kompany, was full of praise for his former club, as he described them as “The best team in the world”. However, it must be noted that the scoreline doesn’t necessarily reflect the performance on the pitch, as Burnley made the first half of the game much tighter than City would have hoped for. Despite City having a dominant 77% possession in the first half, Burnley only had 1 fewer attempts at goal (4) than Guardiola’s side, a positive that Kompany will look to implement in the further games to come.

Notable absences from City’s squad included dynamic defensive duo John Stones and Ruben Dias, in which Pep confirmed that Ruben Dias suffered a concussion during training and due to Premier League protocols was unable to be selected. John Stones also had picked up an injury in training, however it seems as though it is nothing too serious for the Blues to worry about. Manchester City will look ahead to Athens, as they travel to face Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday evening.