Man City vs Aston Villa – Analysis, Prediction, Team News

As part of our weekend Premier League predictions, we take at Aston Villa’s visit to the Etihad this Sunday. City missed a huge opportunity to close the gap on Arsenal last weekend – can they stay in touch here? Read on with our Man City vs Aston Villa prediction.

Man City vs Aston Villa Match Preview

With title rivals Arsenal losing 1-0 to Sean Dyche’s Everton at Goodison Park, Pep Guardiola and his were surely buoyed by the possibility of closing the gap on Arsenal to just two points at the summit of the Premier League table. Alas, things didn’t work out that way, with City falling to a strangely listless 1-0 defeat at the hands of a Spurs team they had defeated 4-2 just over two weeks earlier. On the other hand, Arsenal’s defeat, United’s failure to defeat Leeds and Newcastle’s 1-1 home draw against West Ham means that no significant damage was done.

With a crucial away match against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium looming, it would seem that Man City can ill-afford another slip-up here. Arsenal already have a game in hand over City, and failure to win here could see the gap opened up to seven or eight points with the game in hand remaining. From that point, even if City were to defeat Arsenal, apart from perhaps inflicting a psychological blow any advantage gained would be effectively meaningless.

Aston Villa put in a hugely disappointing performance in a heavy 4-2 home defeat against Midlands rivals Leicester City last weekend. Before that defeat, the Villains had taken an impressive 18 points from nine matches as they went from strength to strength under new manager Unai Emery. While one defeat isn’t likely to completely derail Villa’s push for mid-table stability and perhaps an outside charge for a European place, the manner of the defeat for a side that has recently improved defensively was something of a shock.

Villa had conceded twice in their previous four games, before conceding three times in the space of 45 minutes. With a tough home assignment against current league leaders Arsenal awaiting them six days later, this period will really test the resilience and character of Emery’s men, as they would do well to avoid three straight defeats and potentially a return to looking over their shoulders nervously at the relegation zone.

Team News

Injuries and Suspensions

Man City:

Might Not Play:

Will Not Play: Stones

Aston Villa:

Might Not Play: Young

Will Not Play: Diego Carlos, Steer

Man City vs Aston Villa Lineups (Predicted)

Man City (4-3-3): Ederson; Ake, Akanji, Dias, Lewis; Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne; Grealish, Mahrez, Haaland

Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Martinez; Digne, Mings, Konsa, Cash; Luiz, Kamara; Buendia, Ramsey, Bailey; Watkins

Man City vs Aston Villa Analysis

Manchester City’s Inconsistent Attacking Output

Though this is hardly an original talking point, are City managing to integrate their goalscoring machine into their attack? The answer is yes, except when they couldn’t. What we mean by this is that in games such as the second half against Spurs and the games against Wolves and Leeds as recent examples, Haaland has found the net, scoring six times in those three fixtures and City’s faith in the big Norwegian was vindicated. At other times, such as the derby defeat at Old Trafford, their 1-0 defeat to Spurs last time out and their 2-1 defeat to Brentford, they clearly couldn’t and arguably were playing a man-light when in possession.

It may seem unfair to criticise a player, a young player lest we forget at the age of 22, for his lack of all-round game when he has scored 25 league goals this season. The problem with this line of thinking is that there are only three points available for a win. If Haaland explodes in one game, yet disappears in the next as he has done on several occasions this season, then City are a poorer team for it. There is plenty of scope for development given his age and apparent determination yet the statistics for his all-round contribution don’t paint a good picture.

Of course, City’s attack is about more than just Haaland, and perhaps owing to fixture congestion and tactical considerations City have experimented with finding the right attacking formula, with Phil Foden sidelined of late after his club form took a surprising downturn. Alvarez, ostensibly backup to Haaland, has recently been used as part of a double strikeforce and we can’t rule out that possibility here either. Why is all of this important? Well, City could either turn up and score 3 or 4 goals, or they could fail to be effective. We simply don’t really know at this juncture. City’s Jekyll and Hyde nature has even manifested itself within the same match at times this season.

Villa’s Leicester Defeat Was Possibly On the Cards

While Villa are vastly improved under Emery, with results being like night and day in contrast with the latter days of Gerrard’s tenure, Villa’s last five matches while looking decent enough in terms of results on paper were perhaps instructive in how they actually went. A slightly disappointing 1-1 draw against Aston Villa was followed up by a defeat to Stevenage in the FA Cup. While Villa rested senior players for the match as you’d expect, their first team was still comprised of players who are members of the first team squad, and Villa brought on five regular starters to see out the game and failed to do so.

A 2-1 home win over a Leeds side who were struggling at the time under outgoing manager Jesse Marsch was also not quite what it seems. Though it would be a stretch to suggest that Villa were lucky, Leeds probably ought to have equalised and pushed Villa all the way through an uncomfortable encounter. This was followed up by a 1-0 win over bottom-of-the-league Southampton in which James Ward-Prowse had an effort chalked off – not remarkable in itself in the sense that many efforts are rightly disallowed with the assistance of VAR, but perhaps illustrative of the fine margins at play during their recent form.

What does all this mean for their upcoming match against Man City? What we saw against Leicester was perhaps a combination of the same drop-off in performances, only this time they were punished for it in the form of a defeat. Now the Villains find themselves in the position of travelling to the Etihad where, despite their well-publicised recent problems, City score goals for fun and even during this indifferent period by their standards, managed to put three past an improving Wolves side, four past Spurs and four past Chelsea in their FA Cup tie.

Our Prediction

This fixture has come too soon for Villa following a run of relatively poor performances that hasn’t always been reflected in the scorelines. We expect that City will be able to dust themselves off here and put Villa under pressure often and early. While Emery has been rightfully praised for improving Villa’s outlook this season and improving their defensive organisation in particular, we feel that City will continue to enjoy a fine run of home form that has seen them lose at home just once in the league this season, to Brentford.

With the prize of going into a crucial match with Arsenal with the possibility of slashing the lead to just two points, we feel that City will take care of business here against a Villa side that has seemed somewhat out of sorts recently.

Man City 3-0 Aston Villa

Man City vs Aston Villa Betting Tip – Man City -1 (Win by 2 Goals or More) Odds: