Aston Villa will welcome Manchester City at Villa Park on Wednesday night as they try to pull off a major upset at home. The Villans suffered a 2-1 loss at the hands of Liverpool earlier this month which has halted their momentum ahead of this midweek game. Similarly, Man City were beaten 1-0 by Chelsea in the FA Cup semifinals last weekend, so they will be desperate to return to winning ways later this week.
Talking Tactics
Dean Smith will probably opt for a 4-3-3 formation and is expected to instruct his players to soak in all the pressure and exploit the opposition’s defensive weaknesses on the counter using the pace of Bertrand Traore and Anwar El Ghazi out on the wide areas.
Pep Guardiola will set his team up in a 3-4-3 formation and could ask his men to dominate the ball and orchestrate some clear-cut chances to secure a victory in this game. The Spaniard will be confident that his back three can neutralise the threat of Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins during the 90 minutes.
Team News
Aston Villa
Smith will be sweating on the fitness of Morgan Sanson and Bertrand Traore as they are both significant concerns ahead of this game. Both Jack Grealish and Wesley Moraes are unlikely to be risked in midweek as they continue to recover from their respective injuries.
Aston Villa Predicted XI
Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett, McGinn, Nakamba, Douglas Luiz, Traore, Watkins, El Ghazi
Manchester City
Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne have been ruled out of this contest. Otherwise, Guardiola should have a full squad to choose from in midweek.
Manchester City Predicted XI
Ederson, Dias, Stones, Ake, Cancelo, Silva, Fernandinho, Mendy, Torres, Jesus, Sterling
Key Men
Aston Villa
Ollie Watkins can expect a tough night as he will be up on his own against the Man City defenders. The English striker needs to have a good game if the Villans are to come out on top on Wednesday night. The defensive performance of Ezri Konsa and Tyrone Mings could very well end up determining the fate of this game.
Manchester City
Both Raheem Sterling and Ferran Torres will have to stretch the Villan defence so that they can create enough chances for Man City to collect all three points on the road. Fernandinho will also have to marshal the midfield for his team and is expected to focus his attention on stopping the Villa attackers from creating too many problems on the counter.
Odds
Man City are the heavy favourites to emerge victorious at Villa Park after they are priced at 4/11 by the bookmakers. The draw has been listed at 19/5 while the Villans are 15/2 underdogs to collect maximum points in midweek.
