What Man City boss Pep Guardiola has made of Burnley in the Premier League under Vincent Kompany

The Clarets return from their 19-day winter break with a trip to the Etihad to face Guardiola’s reigning champions.

While City are in the mix for a fourth straight title, Burnley find themselves mired in trouble at the other end of the table, sitting 19th and five points adrift of safety.

While Vincent Kompany’s men have only won three of their 21 games so far this season, Guardiola has been impressed with some of their recent displays.

"I have a lot of respect for Vinny and what he’s doing,” he said.

"I know what he’s trying to do. Sometimes the results are going well, sometimes bad, but the team is alive.

"They played really good at Aston Villa away and in the FA Cup against Spurs, so the results are all tight.

"We have to be careful. We have to prepare as well as possible in our last training session before tomorrow.

"When we’ve had good runs it’s because our thoughts have been one game at a time. Our thoughts right now are Burnley, Burnley and Burnley. The rest? I don’t care.

"The most important news is that we almost have all of the squad fit. We don’t have many injuries.

"Manuel Akanji is back, he trained really well. John Stones as well. That is the best news because the important part of the season starts right now.”

Guardiola also confirmed Erling Haaland is in contention to feature after recently returning from a two-month lay-off.