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Aston Villa hosts seventh-place Manchester City in the English Premier League and meets fifth-placed on Saturday. Pep Guardiola’s visitors are struggling to get their title defense back on track, while Unai Emery’s hosts have been erratic of late. Both sides come into this match on the back of losses, with Villa going down to Nottingham Forest and City losing to bitter rivals Manchester United.
UEFA Champions League action has proved a test for the Villans, with the Birmingham outfit struggling to match their best EPL form. Despite four successive defeats away from home, they are unbeaten in seven Premier League games at Villa Park. A 1-0 win last season helped Villa’s bid to finish fourth and qualify for the UCL and another success here could mean consecutive home wins over City for the first time since 1993.
City have now lost two of the last three EPL matches in which they led at half-time, while they are also five points behind Villa in the Champions League despite being two points clear in the domestic standings. Aging players, failing attackers and absent defenders have all contributed to their current form, which has raised major question marks in recent months.
Here are our storylines, how to watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Saturday December 21 | Time: 7:30am ET
- Location: Villa Park – Birmingham, England
- Watch: US network | Current: Fubo (try for free)
- Chances: Villa +230; Sign +250; City +110
Season so far
Villa missed the chance to pull away from Forest last week, scoring a late goal at the City Ground despite the best efforts of Jhon Duran and Emi Martinez. That followed three successive wins over Brentford, Southampton and RB Leipzig, so the Villans sit seventh in the standings and two points behind City, but are on the brink of the Champions League knockout rounds. Four wins from seven EPL games is a concern, but not as worrying as City’s recent dip in form, including a late capitulation to United, which extended their barren run from eight to eight defeats from 11. That is nine points lower than the pace set. from Liverpool, while the Reds have a game in hand.
Team news
Villa: Jhon Duran hopes to start ahead of Ollie Watkins, while Leon Bailey could return for this. Tyrone Mings is available for selection after illness, but Jacob Ramsey is still unavailable for Emery’s men.
Possible Villa XI: Martinez; Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Digne; Kamara, Tielemans; Cash, Rogers, McGinn; Watkins.
City: Mateo Kovacic and John Stones were back against United, although Rodri and Oscar Bobb Nathan Aké are all out. Manuel Akanji could return while Rico Lewis is back from suspension. Jack Grealish hopes to beat Jeremy Doku against his former club.
Possible city XI: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Gvardiol, Lewis; Kovacic; Silva, De Bruyne, Foden, Doku; Haaland.
Prediction
This is a meeting between two sides to beat, so confidence won’t be too high and perhaps a draw makes the most sense for everyone involved. Choose: Villa 1, City 1.