Manchester City will travel to Birmingham this Saturday to face an Aston Villa side looking to end a horrible run of form in the Premier League.
Venue: Villa Park (Birmingham)
Key Statistics
Aston Villa have lost their last three league games.
They have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last eleven competitive games.
They have lost just one of their last four league games at home (W2, D1).
The hosts have lost their last five games against Manchester City at home.
Manchester City are unbeaten in their last 17 league games (W13, D4).
The visitors have scored 3+ goals in each of their last five games.
They are unbeaten in their last 20 away league games.
They have kept one clean sheet in their last three away league games, conceding 2+ goals in two games.
Head to head
In 44 Premier League meetings between both teams, Manchester City have the upper hand with 28 wins while Aston Villa have just seven wins.
Latest performances in all competitions
Aston Villa: L-L-W-L-W
Manchester City: W-W-D-D-W
Aston Villa
Aston Villa will look to get their second win of the season when they play host to champions Manchester City at Villa Park.
Despite being an instant hit upon taking up the managerial role last season, Steven Gerrard’s brilliant start at Villa Park has hit a brick wall just a few games into the season. The Liverpool legend has been busy in the transfer market, adding some marquee signings including the likes of Boubacar Kamara who joined on a free transfer from Marseille and Diego Carlos who joined from Sevilla. But so far, his first full season in charge of the Premier League side has yielded little success.
The Birmingham-based outfit find themselves sitting in 19th place after five rounds of football, having picked up just one win from five games (L5).
The last encounter between the two teams was memorable as the Villans took a two-goal lead to put City’s title hopes in serious jeopardy in what was the final fixture of the season. But the Citizens rallied back to win the game with a double from Ilkay Gundogan, all but making sure that City won their fourth League title in five seasons and further extended their unbeaten record against Aston Villa for nine years running.
Aston Villa put in an energetic display against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal in midweek, with Jamaican forward Leon Bailey, in particular, looking lively throughout the game. That, and their dismal start to the season, should serve as extra motivation to them as they try to stop a free-scoring City team.
Possible Aston Villa starting line-up
Emi Martinez; Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings, Lucas Digne; John McGinn, Jacob Ramsey, Boubacar Kamara; Ollie Watkins, Emi Buendia, Leon Bailey.
Injured: Diego Carlos
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Manchester City
Manchester City have made a brilliant start to the season with their current point tally only bettered by Arsenal, after being held to a draw against Newcastle United in game week three.
The Cityzens are on a rampage, plundering 19 goals so far, with ten of those coming in their last two games. They will look to continue on that blistering form when they travel to Birmingham to face a side that nearly caused them to miss out on the title on the last day of last season.
Like their hosts, City has been active in the transfer window with both arrivals and departures. After losing both Gabriel Jesus and Sterling to Arsenal and Chelsea respectively, the onus was on new signing Erling Haaland to get the goads, and after having some question marks put on his suitability to the Premier League and Pep Guardiola’s style, the Norwegian responded with back-to-back hat-tricks, putting all doubts to rest.
Pep Guardiola’s side swept aside newcomers Nottingham Forest in their midweek fixture as there was any doubt in what was a classic masterclass by Pep Guardiola’s men and the Spanish coach would be pushing his boys to make it five wins out of six games as they continue to mount a strong title defence.
Possible Manchester City starting line-up
Ederson Moraes, Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Joao Cancelo; Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva; Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland.
Injured: Aymeric Laporte
Doubtful: Nathan Ake, Jack Grealish, Kalvin Phillips
Suspended: None
Prediction
Aston Villa 1-4 Manchester City
