Manchester City host Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday evening and they will be hoping to close the gap with leaders Arsenal with a win at home.
The Premier League champions are coming into this game on the back of a narrow defeat against Tottenham Hotspur and they will be desperate to bounce back with the wind.
Pep Guardiola’s side have an exceptional record against Aston Villa and they are unbeaten in their last 6 outings against the West Midlands club.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa are 11th in the league table and they are coming into this game on the back of a 4-2 defeat against Leicester City.
Villa have shown considerable improvement since the appointment of Unai Emery and they will be hoping to dent Manchester City’s title hopes with a positive result away from home.
Focus for the weekend 💪#ManCity | @okx pic.twitter.com/kZicRAbOBQ
— Manchester City (@ManCity) February 10, 2023
Theme News and Tactics
Manchester City
The home side will be without the services of John stones because of an injury.
Phil Foden missed out against Tottenham Hotspur but he is expected to return from illness here.
Pep Guardiola is likely to persist with his favoured 4-3-3 formation with Ederson Moraes in goal.
Rico Lewis and Nathan Ake are expected to be deployed as full-backs with Manuel Akanji starting alongside Aymeric Laporte at the heart of the defence.
The likes of Walker failed to impress in the last outing and Guardiola could make changes to his backline here. In the middle of the park, Rodri is set to anchor the midfield and break up the opposition’s play.
While Ilkay Gundogan will look to control the tempo of the game and recycle possession, Kevin De Bruyne will look to add creativity and goals from the midfield.
Erling Haaland will look to continue his impressive goal-scoring form with Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish on either side of him.
Probable Lineup (4-3-3): Ederson; Lewis, Akanji, Laporte, Ake; De Bruyne, Rodri, Gundogan; Mahrez, Haaland, Grealish
Aston Villa
Unai Emery will be without the services of Diego Carlos and Jed Steer because of injury problems.
Villa are set to line up in a 4-4-2 formation with World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez in goal.
Ashley Young and Lucas Digne are set to be deployed as the full-backs here with Ezri Konsa partnering Tyrone Mings at the heart of the defence.
Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara will look to sit deep and break up the Manchester City play here. Midfielders Jacob Ramsey and Emiliano Buendia are likely to be used as inverted attacking midfielders from the wide areas. They will look to create opportunities for Villa during transitions and drop back into the midfield to outnumber the Manchester City players.
Ollie Watkins will lead the line alongside Leon Bailey.
Probable Lineup (4-4-2): Martinez; Young, Konsa, Mings, Digne; Ramsey, Kamara, Luiz, Buendia; Bailey, Watkins
Key Stats
- Man City have scored at least 2 goals in their last 13 home matches against Aston Villa in all competitions.
- Man City have won their last 7 home matches against Aston Villa in all competitions.
- Man City have picked up 5 wins and a draw in their last six outings against Aston Villa.
- Aston Villa have won 4 of their last 5 matches in the Premier League.
- Man City have conceded in 4 of their last 6 matches across all competitions
Player to watch
Erling Haaland
The Norwegian has been in outstanding form this season but he failed to get on the score sheet against Tottenham hotspur.
He will be desperate to get back to scoring ways here and the 22-year-old is our player to watch this weekend.
Haaland has 25 league goals in 20 appearances and he has the quality to punish a porous Aston Villa defence.
Prediction
Manchester City 3-0 Aston Villa
Manchester City are undoubtedly one of the best teams in the world and despite their defeat against Tottenham, they will be firm favourites heading into this contest.
Unai Emery is an exceptional tactician and he will look to make life difficult for the home side but the defending champions have too much quality at their disposal and they should be able to pick up a comprehensive 3-0 victory at home.