Pep Guardiola must rally Manchester City as the Premier League champions head to Burnley on Tuesday.
A 2-2 draw at Newcastle United this weekend leaves the Citizens trailing Liverpool by 11 points after 14 games – and considering that the title was won by a single point last season, the gap already looks daunting for Guardiola’s men.
Sean Dyche’s Burnley sit a creditable 10th in the table, though the Clarets’ inconsistency will have irked their manager as Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace has perhaps recalibrated expectations a little at Turf Moor.
Quite simply, this is a game City cannot afford to lose if they have any pretensions of retaining their title – but without Sergio Aguero, Guardiola needs others to step up.
Despite City’s recent struggles, they should have enough to see off a Burnley side who lost 2-0 here to Palace on Saturday.
Sergio Aguero remains out of action and will also miss the Manchester derby on Saturday. That means Gabriel Jesus should once again lead the line despite struggling at Newcastle.
Elsewhere for City, Leroy Sane, Aymeric Laporte, and Aleks Zinchenko are all sidelined with knee injuries.
Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Matej Vydra are hoping to be available again, though Charlie Taylor is out.
Predicted squads;
Burnley XI: Pope; Bardsley, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor; Hendrick, Westwood, Cork, McNeil; Wood, Barnes.
Man City XI: Ederson; Cancelo, Stones, Fernandinho, Mendy; Rodri, De Bruyne, Foden; Mahrez, Jesus, Bernardo Silva.