Manchester City v Burton Albion
Wednesday 9th January 1945hrs
Football – England – EFL Cup
Pick: Over 3.5 goals
Bookmaker: Betfair
Odds: 13/20 (odds taken 18.15 GMT, Tuesday 7th January)
The EFL Cup has been something of a fairy-tale for Burton Albion this season as they have made their way to the semi-final stage for the first time in their history. The reward, if you can call it that, is a clash with the Premier League champions and current holders of this competition. It goes without saying that City are overwhelming favourites to make the final once again but you can forgive the visitors and their supporters if they dare to dream. Continue reading for a match preview of Manchester City against Burton Albion, with a selected best betting tip.
Manchester City Preview
Pep Guardiola always speaks fondly of this competition as it was the first trophy he won since coming to England. Last year’s win over Arsenal at Wembley was one of the sweetest days of Pep’s reign and he would love nothing more than to retain it. It’s easy to make the argument that it’s the least important of the four competitions that City are in, but the best and most successful teams crave trophies and they will see this as another opportunity to add to their haul under Guardiola. Similar to last season, City required penalties to see of Leicester at the quarter final stage and they face Football League opposition in the last four, just as they done 12 months ago. On that occasion they were ran all the way by Bristol City and Guardiola will be well aware that despite being huge favourites to win through to the final, they will be facing a team full of spirit and motivation. City did give Burton an indication of just how formidable they can be, though, with a 7-0 win against Rotherham in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday.
Burton Albion Preview
Nigel Clough won this competition twice as a player in the late 1980s when playing for Nottingham Forest but there’s no doubting that if he was to pull off the unthinkable and be successful as a manager this year, it would completely eclipse any other achievement. There’s even a case to made that getting to this stage is up there with what he has done in his managerial career, previously, but he’s a competitor and despite everything being stacked against he and his players, Clough will not see this as just a case of turning up and being grateful they have reached this stage. It has been a mammoth journey to reach the last four, having had to win five matches dating all the way back to the middle of August. A victory to fellow League One outfit Shrewsbury was their first step before three consecutive home wins against teams in the Championship or Premier League. That set up a quarter final tie away to Middlesbrough and a solitary goal from Jake Hesketh was enough to put the Brewers into the semi-final and their fans, dreamland. They have already made history – can they continue doing so?!
Manchester City v Burton Albion Betting Advice
It really is a complete mismatch when you look at any possible angle between these two teams. It’s not unthinkable that City could win an unprecedented quadruple this season and continue their domination of the English game, whilst Burton look to have a task on them to even make the League One playoffs. But that’s why we love football and particularly cup football so much because it throws up these clashes. City made a number of changes from the team that beat Liverpool in the league last in their resounding win against Rotherham at the weekend, and we should expect to see a similar looking eleven for the visit of Burton. The visitors do not have those same luxuries and will again give a major opportunity to the players who have gotten them this far – and they must be relishing the prospect of coming up against some of the best players in the world.
There’s been two City’s at times this season. The one we seen on Sunday who are on their game and irresistible, but they have also thrown in a couple of well below-par performances. There was a freshness in their win over Rotherham that has been missing in recent weeks, though, and they will want to put this tie to bed with so much football ahead of them. Nine of their 17 home games this season have contained four or more goals and I’m taking them to add to that on Wednesday.
