Burnley and Manchester City have the honor of kicking off the 2023-24 Premier League campaign on Friday. City has dominated this fixture for a number of years and is expected to start its title defense with a convincing win.
Bookmaker William Hill is offering odds at 3.10 for City to beat the -2 handicap at Turf Moore. The odds are at 6.00 for Pep Guardiola’s men the beat Burnley by at least four goals.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: August 10th, 6:00 P.M. (EST)
A big City victory has been very common in this match-up as Burnley has lost eight straight head-to-head meetings, scoring only once and giving up 26 goals. Across the last 23 league meetings, the Clarets have managed just one victory versus City, meaning Vincent Kompany has a chance to produce a truly special result in his Premier League debut as manager.
The former City captain has quickly built himself a very good reputation as a coach and has made Burnley very tough to beat. A season ago, the team took only five losses across all competitions, cruising its way to the Championship title. Kompany has proven himself as a manager who likes to play attractive and attacking football, but he will likely find it hard to replicate the style in the Premier League, especially in a match-up against a side like City.
Guardiola saw his team start the campaign with a loss when Arsenal beat the champions on penalties in last week’s Community Shield and he will hope to see a good reaction. City has typically been a pretty slow starter in the league, but the team rarely runs into trouble on opening day. With Erling Haaland scoring a brace, City easily took care of West Ham 2-0 in its opening game 12 months ago and that result means that the team has won 12 of its last 14 opening league games.
Haaland couldn’t face Burnley in the Premier League last season, but he still had a few goals reserved for Kompany’s men. The two teams met in the FA Cup quarter-finals and Haaland netted a hat trick in a 6-0 win. He has struggled to get fit for the new campaign and only played an underwhelming 64 minutes against Arsenal, but the Norwegian superstar should be amped up to start the race for another Premier League Golden Boot Friday night.
