Aston Villa face a tough challenge ahead when they face 2nd placed Manchester City on Wednesday at the Villa Park. Steven Gerrard is believed to have steadied the ship with two back to back wins for Villa after they suffered 5 consecutive defeats under Dean Smith. Aston Villa will aim to dent City’s winning streak and move up into the top half of the table.
Manchester City are in fine form with 3 consecutive wins in the league and will hope to keep it up and put pressure on table toppers Chelsea. The win against West Ham in adverse weather conditions will give them immense confidence to go and clinch 3 points again. City winning will mean that Chelsea cannot afford to drop any point in order to stay at the top of the table.
Aston Villa Vs Manchester City Preview
Talking Tactics
Steven Gerrard will opt for his favoured 4-3-3 formation and will look to play positive counter attacking football against a side that love to keep possession of the ball. Gerrard will look to deploy a workhorse midfield of Nakamba, Douglas Luiz and John McGinn who can track runners of the ball and also have the ability to progress the ball high up the pitch when in possession. The pace of Watkins will be key in Villa going forward.
Pep Guardiola will stick to his 4-3-3 possession based gameplay and look to break the Villa defence with the technical brilliance under his belt. City will need to be patient enough to work the ball and open up the Villa defence which is expected to sit deep.
Team News
Aston Villa
Aston Villa will continue to miss the services of Bertrand Traore and Trezeguet who are long term absentees in the squad with injuries. Other than these two, Gerrard is expected to have a full squad available to choose from.
Manchester City
Manchester City will miss Aymeric Laporte who is suspended for accumulating 5 yellow cards in the league. Kevin De Bruyne is expected to be out after not being able to train for being Covid-19 positive. Ferran Torres is a long term absentee due to his foot injury. The likes of Jack Grealish and Phil Foden are expected to be back in the squad but will get limited minutes since they are coming back from an injury.
Predicted Lineups
Aston Villa: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett; Luiz, Nakamba, McGinn; Watkins, Ings, Bailey
Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Stones, Cancelo; Silva, Rodri, Gundogan; Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling
Prediction
Aston Villa 1-2 Manchester City
Streaming Sites
| Country | Broadcaster |
| United Kingdom | Sky Sports/Sky Go |
| USA | NBC Sports |
| India | Hotstar, JioTV |
| Canada | DAZN |
| Spain | DAZN |
| Italy | Sky Sport |
| Germany | Sky Sport |
| Australia | Optus Sport |
| New Zealand | Spark Sport |
