Aston Villa will host defending champions Manchester City in the midweek Premier League clash on Wednesday.
Venue: Villa Park
Key statistics:
- Manchester City have won 10 out of their last 11 games in the Premier League against Aston Villa.
- Villans have managed only one win in their last 14 games against Man City across all competitions.
- Citizens have won all of their 15 games in the Premier League games played on Wednesday.
- City have won all of their last five games this season, including the victories in the Champions League against Club Brugge, PSG.
- Man City are trailing leaders Chelsea by a point at second place while Aston Villa are 13th in the table with 16 points.
Head to Head record
Manchester City have got the better of Aston Villa in terms of head to head records, winning 10 of their last 11 games in all competitions. City’s last defeat against the Lions dates back to 2013.
Latest performances in all competitions
Aston Villa: L L L W W
Manchester City: W W W W W.
Aston Villa
Steven Gerrard is off and running in the Premier League, leading Aston Villa to back to back wins in the Premier League against Brighton and Crystal Palace.
The new manager bounce is working well with Gerrard but he will be heading into a big test against reigning champions Manchester City.
Villans had been winless for five consecutive games before Gerrard turned the fortunes around.
In his first game in charge against Brighton, the former Liverpool legend led Villans to a comfortable 2-0 win, with Ollie Watkins and Tyrone Mings finding the scoresheet in the final few minutes.
The Lions’ confidence level must have been doubled after their 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace at the weekend.
If they manage to claim three points against Man City, they could jump to the top half of the Premier League table.
Possible Aston Villa line-up: Emi Martinez; Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings, Matt Targett; John McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Jacob Ramsey; Emi Buendia, Danny Ings, Ollie Watkins
Injured: Trezeguet, Bertrand Traore
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Manchester City
Manchester City must be feeling invincible following their 2-1 win over West Ham in a snow-curtailed league game in the weekend.
The victory also extended their winning streak to five games across all competitions.
Having defeated the likes of Everton, PSG and Hammers, City would look to add Aston Villa as their next victim.
Pep Guardiola’s men are right behind leaders Chelsea in the Premier League table and they would look to keep up the pressure on the Londoners by claiming all three points against Villans.
City are well aware of Gerrard’s instant impact at Villa Park, but they would still take the game to Villans.
Possible Manchester City line-up: Ederson; Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Zinchenko; Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan; Riyad Mahrez, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling
Injured: Kevin De Bruyne, Ferran Torres
Doubtful: Jack Grealish, Phil Foden
Suspended: Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy
Prediction: Aston Villa 2 – 3 Manchester City
