Manchester United travel to Turf Moor on Saturday evening where they will face Vincent Kompany’s Burnley. Both sides have had an underwhelming start to the season and they will both be motivated to secure three points. United have not found an away trip to the Clarets easy in previous years and they will be in for another tough test this weekend.
Burnley
Burnley’s attacking, free-flowing football that they won the Championship with hasn’t exactly been a hit in the top flight thus far. The Clarets currently sit in 19th place after four games and they haven’t been able to pick up a victory since their return to the Premier League, albeit they have had an incredibly difficult run of fixtures. The first three matches saw them suffer defeats to Manchester City, Aston Villa and Spurs, which if being brutally honest, those outcomes were expected.
However last time out, they faced Nottingham Forest away from home and held them to a respectable 1-1 draw, even though they arguably deserved more for their performance. Zeki Amdouni opened the scoring with his first Premier League goal and the young Swiss forward looked bright throughout. However what will infuriate Kompany, is the red card that his first choice striker, Lyle Foster, picked up for elbowing the opponent.
In Burnley’s last home game, they caused Spurs some issues and they will be looking to implement a similar attacking approach once again. The Clarets netted twice in that tie but they were pulled apart at the back. If they can sit in and hit United on the counter with the likes of Amdouni and the incredibly gifted Luca Koleosho, then they could frustrate the visitors.
Manchester United
The Red Devils had high hopes coming into this season, but their balloon of optimism has pretty much been burst already. United have suffered so far, with injuries and unavailability’s preventing Erik ten Hag from fielding his strongest XI, in fact, they can actually field a full XI of players that are unavailable. After five games, United have lost three and only beat Wolves and Nottingham Forest, but they were lucky in those games also.
Each player bar Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, and the glimpses of Rasmus Hojlund, has been underwhelming and Ten Hag’s side are simply too easy to play against. Their main problem is the lack of defensive decisiveness and quality, with the last five teams they have faced scoring at least twice. Luckily, the Reds should have new signing Sofyan Amrabat available to some capacity this weekend and the Moroccan should have a huge impact on the side.
Manchester United travelled to Bayern Munich on Wednesday where they featured in a goal fest. The tie ended 4-3 to the hosts but if It wasn’t for Andre Onana’s second half performance, the scoreline could have reached six or seven. The only positive Ten Hag can take is that his side showed some character towards the end, they were able to score three goals against top opposition and that Rasmus Hojlund scored his first United goal.
Verdict?
Manchester United will be desperate to win this game and I think they will win their first away game of the season. Burnley will find joy but whether they take their chances is key. The Clarets will most likely score, but the attacking firepower of United should be too much to handle.
The final prediction is Burnley 1-3 Manchester United.
