Following Manchester City’s narrow 2-1 win over Arsenal at the Etihad on Sunday, Pep’s men have the opportunity tonight to soar to the top of the Premier League for the first time since opening week.
A trip to Turf Moor to face a virtually relegated Burnley side can only be seen as a brilliant opportunity for Guardiola’s side to punish the recent slip-ups of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.
The statistics of previous meetings between City and Burnley do not make for good reading for any onlooking Arsenal fans willing for a Claret’s upset.
Scott Parker as manager of Burnley has faced Guardiola five times and the current aggregate score reads a staggering 16-1 in favour of the Spaniard. A win tonight for City would tie them with Arsenal at the summit each with 70 points.
Arteta, a former student of Pep’s has finished second to the latter in two of the last three seasons, the other second was to Arne Slot and Liverpool.
At the halfway point this season the Gunners seemed a formidable force destined to finally enjoy Premier League joy under Arteta.
Their defence looked formidable and the freedom of goalscoring especially from set-pieces made them rock solid favourites for the title, with bookmaker Paddy Power even paying out prematurely on Arsenal Champions slips on February 7th.
Dropped points away to Brentford, Wolves and a recent home loss to Bournemouth have re-opened the door for Pep to Punish his countryman yet again.
When comparing run ins Arteta’s men will face visits from Newcastle, Fulham and Burnley and trips to local rivals West Ham and Crystal Palace. With the recent wobble we’ve seen from the North London side none of these games scream a formality on paper.
After tonight’s trip to Turf Moor, City will face trips to Everton and Bournemouth and visits from Crystal Palace, Brentford and Aston Villa. Similarly sticky fixtures for two teams hunting down a title.
Will Pep come out on top yet again and secure his seventh Premier League title or can Mikel Arteta steady the ship and guide his side to glory at last.
Based on reaction from students on campus this morning, the consensus is that it will be blue ribbons on the trophy at the end of the season.