Another big test for Steven Gerrard as Aston Villa face Manchester City on Wednesday at the Villa Park. It has been a spectacular start for Gerrard in his first managerial career in the Premier League with 2 wins out of 2 but Manchester City will be a real test for the Villa boss when they face in the midweek. After 5 consecutive losses, Aston Villa are back on track with wins against Brighton and Crystal Palace as they now look to put some dents on City’s title charge. Gerrard will be backing his team to play positive football and cause problems to City at the back and also keep their structure defensively as City can be ruthless going forward.
4-3-3 Aston Villa Predicted Lineup To Face Manchester City
Defence
Emiliano Martinez will start in the Villa goal and it will need a heroic performance from the Argentinian to keep the City attackers at bay. Ezri Konsa will start alongside Tyrone Mings at the heart of the defence as they look to keep another cleansheet after narrowly missing out against Palace in the last minute. Both the central defenders will need to be strong in the air and match the pace of the City players to have any chance of keeping a cleansheet.
Matty Cash will operate in the right back position and will have a massive task ahead of him to keep Sterling quiet. Matt Target at left back will have a similar job and both the fullbacks will have to be on their toes throughout the 90 minutes.
Midfield
Steven Gerrard will be handed a major boost with the availability of Douglas Luiz in the middle of the park. With the technical brilliance in City’s midfield, Gerrard is most likely to field a midfield three of Marvelous Nakamba, Douglas Luiz and John McGinn.
Jacob Ramsey will be an option from the bench if Villa need some spark later in the game.
Attack
Ollie Watkins is in terrific form and will lead the attack from the front to cause problems to the City defenders. Danny Ings is expected to be back in the starting line up as the forward possesses a major goal threat up around the opposition penalty box.
Leo Bailey is believed to be given another chance to impress from the right hand channel of the pitch. The likes of Anwar El-Ghazi, Emiliano Buendia and Ashley Young will be key options for Gerrard to bring off the bench to make an impact later in the game.
