Aston Villa vs Manchester City Preview

Premier League GW17

As is quite normal this season, Manchester City comes into another Premier League match looking for a win after dropping points due to some horrific individual mistakes, all whilst getting the weekly injury news that diminishes your confidence in getting a result. Aston Villa is not this season the side we are used to seeing giving every team in the top six lots of problems, having not beaten a single one all season. For all the points Manchester City have dropped, Aston Villa still sit behind them in 7th.

After playing Aston Villa, the fixture list over the winter becomes easier on paper for Manchester City with Everton (H), Leicester City (A), and West Ham (H). A win here gives them a boost of confidence and a chance in that run to build some momentum for the January transfer window.

Previous Results:

• Manchester City in their last three Premier League matches have beaten Nottingham Forest (3-0), drew to Crystal Palace (2-2), and lost to Manchester United (1-2). They are currently sitting 5th in the table with 27 points.

• Aston Villa have won two of their last three Premier League matches, beating Southampton (1-0) and Brentford (3-1), losing to Nottingham Forest (1-2). They are currently sitting 7th in the table on 25 points.

Notable Injuries:

• Manchester City are without Rodri (knee), Oscar Bobb, Ruben Dias, and Nathan Ake (thigh). Manuel Akanji and John Stones are both back in training. Rico Lewis is back from suspension.

• Aston Villa are without Jacob Ramsey (thigh). After missing previous ones, Tyrone Mings and Leon Bailey are back in the squad.

Interesting Aston Villa Stats:

• Jhon Duran is the only player in the Premier League with a goals/90 ratio greater than 1 (1.1), having scored 6 this season and starting only two matches. Both of those starts came in the last two PL matches and Duran scored in both.

• No player has completed more passes into the final third than Youri Tielemans (115), he’s also provided the most through balls (12) and is third for progressive passes (107).

• Aston Villa is the only team in the top thirteen of the Premier League to have a negative goal difference (-1), having conceded 25 goals and scored 24.

• Only Southampton (27) and Ipswich Town (18) have had more errors leading to a shot than Aston Villa (16) this season.

If you want to stay up-to-date on individual player minutes, back four combinations, underlying numbers, and more, check out the live Google sheet below. 👇

Aston Villa

Similar in a way to Kulusevski, Morgan Rogers can cause Manchester City a lot of problems in transition with his powerful running and was more than capable of getting past Declan Rice. Of course, he’ll be able to beat Gundogan and Kovacic if given the space. Leon Bailey being back would be huge for Aston Villa, taking Cash off the wing and adding a genuine threat down that side. The same player that gave Gvardiol a tough time in this fixture last season.

Here is how Aston Villa lined up in their last match against Nottingham Forest, as mentioned earlier Leon Bailey would be a huge addition. Neither is that a team you look at and expect to give Manchester City, normally, a lot of problems. They’ve been far from their best of last season and it’s a good moment to play Aston Villa.

Amadou Onana has had his moments this season in midfield but it’s Tielemans who has been the standout for Villa in midfield, leading the league for passes into the final third (115), and through balls (12). Only Martinez has played more minutes for Aston Villa in the Premier League this season. Who speaking of which, is not performing at the heights of last season either. Some incredible saves mixed in there but underperforms with his shot-stopping.

One to Watch

It’s taken all season but Jhon Duran has finally worked his way into the starting lineup for Aston Villa in the Premier League and has scored in his last two starts. Incredibly strong and athletic, Duran will be a tough problem for any defender to handle and is more than willing to take on shots from a distance. Manchester City likely dominate the ball but just as likely they’ll give Aston Villa chances to attack in transition, and Duran chances to score.

Manchester City

You only have to look back to the match Aston Villa played against Arsenal at the start of the season to see how important it is for players to take their chances. Whether you were on top or not, in Arsenal’s case they were not but scored their chances. Aston Villa missed their ones. In the last seven Premier League matches Erling Haaland has 2 goals from 6.55xG. The team needs him to score in this fixture to have any hope of three points. Regardless of how much the wingers/midfielders are doing to create for him.

Now if we zoom further out, to the wide players, it’s just not acceptable that a wide player for Manchester City does not contribute with goals and assists. That’s what Guardiola is saying Grealish can do whilst hoping that the others can turn around their form to deliver.

Savinho has not scored in the Premier League this season and has not provided an assist in the last nine matches. Jeremy Doku has 2 goals and 2 assists in the Premier League but has struggled with injuries until recently. Oscar Bobb is out injured until the end of January. The team desperately needs one of those to step up over the next few matches.

At the other end of the pitch, they need to remove the individual mistakes. Manchester United were not creating chances against Manchester City, they were capitalizing on individual mistakes, only players inviting pressure and then others being crushed by it.

Ruben Dias is expected to be out for the next three to four weeks, missing at least five matches. The one player you’d least want to see injured in the winter run. John Stones and Manual Akanji being back in training is however great news, and hopefully, they are not forced back so that causes another injury.

Ederson is also a doubt for the match, as mentioned by Guardiola in his press conference, so Ortega may start.

One to Watch

Mateo Kovacic being back in contention to start I think is a big boost for the team, bearing in mind that he was the cover for Rodri this season and for most of the losing run they’ve missed both. He’ll immediately shift Gundogan/Bernardo out of a deeper role and offer more than those two in the role as well as being fresh.

Predicted Lineup:

Predicted Score: Aston Villa 1-2 Manchester City