Apprentice challenges Master when English Championship runaway leaders Burnley visit Manchester City for an FA Cup humdinger on Saturday evening. Clarets manager Vincent Kompany was an outstanding Sky Blues skipper long before Pep Guardiola took over the reins at Etihad Stadium, captaining the Premier League champions to the first of six English top flight titles in 2011/12. The Belgian was also an ever present as Guardiola won the first two of the four crowns he’s garnered in the last five seasons.
Kompany was a bit of a wild card when he was recruited to replace Sean Dyce in the Clarets dugout. There wasn’t much to write home about his first two seasons as manager at Belgian record champions Anderlecht apart from his insistence on playing from the back in a possession based game. The 37-year-old’s tenure at Burnley is nothing short of spectacular, with the Clarets traveling to his old hunting ground enamored by a 32-match unbeaten run that’s taken the side to the precipice of a swift return to the big time.
The forthcoming international break implies Guardiola is not compelled to rotate his team to keep City fresh for the mouthwatering Premier League clash with Liverpool on April 1. Burnley will therefore have their hands full trying to contain a City side that clobbered supposedly superior opponents RB Leipzig 7-0 in a Champions League rubber on Tuesday night. How Kompany’s team copes with the mercurial striking skills of Norwegian behemoth Erling Braut Haaland, plunderer of 39 goals in just 41 Manchester City games, may well determine if he is a worthy future successor to the Catalan coaching alchemist.
Sunday’s three match program commences with an all Championship clash featuring Sheffield United against Blackburn Rovers just weeks after the visitors upset their hosts in a league contest. Roberto de Zerbi’s red hot Brighton Hove Albion are overwhelming favourites to subdue lower league Grimsby Town whereas Manchester United host Fulham in an all Premier League clash in the late kick off. Eric Ten Haag’s Carabao Cup winners on Thursday booked a place in the Europa League quarter finals by overcoming Real Betis 5-1 on aggregate, keeping them on track for an unlikely treble of cup glory in the Dutchman’s first year at Old Trafford.
Knocked out of the Europa League via a penalty shootout loss to Ruben Amorim’s impressive Sporting Lisbon, Arsenal will be hoping to take advantage of Manchester City’s FA Cup engagements to extend their Premier League advantage to eight points when they host Crystal Palace on Sunday. Eagles boss Patrick Vieira, a Gunners legend who captained the Invincibles side in 2003/4, is under pressure from the club chairman Steve Parish, as the Selhurst Park outfit have not won any of their last 12 encounters.
FA Cup
SATURDAY
Manchester City v Burnley
SUNDAY
Sheffield United v Blackburn Rovers,
Brighton Hove Albion v Grimsby Town,
Manchester United v Fulham
PREMIER LEAGUE
FRIDAY
Nottingham Forest v Newcastle United
SATURDAY
Aston Villa v Bournemouth,
Brentford v Leicester City,
Southampton v Tottenham Hotspur,
Wolves v Leeds United,
Chelsea v Everton
SUNDAY
Arsenal v Crystal Palace
