Premier League: Villa Next for Shell-Shocked City

Aston Villa vs Manchester City

Seventh plays fifth in the Premier League match of the weekend when Aston Villa host Manchester City, knowing that a win would take the Villains above the Sky Blues in the league table.   

Unai Emery’s Villa will take on City at a unique point in Pep Guardiola’s reign, a point at which losing is no longer a surprise and the football world watches to see just how long the Catalan’s agony will continue. And that’s what makes Premier League: Aston Villa vs Manchester City a compelling prospect.     

Both teams suffered derby defeat last week; Villa lost the Midlands clash 2-1 to Nottingham Forest while the Sky Blues threw away a relatively comfortable lead to lose by the same score line to Manchester United. 

Even though Villa have been inconsistent and City are on a dreadful run, you can guarantee that fans, players and managers of all the top teams will have a close eye on the Aston Villa vs Manchester City results come Saturday lunchtime.   

 

Talking Points

Three steps forward and one back for Villa

Defeat to Nottingham Forest was a real blow to Emery’s boys, particularly after they had ended a poor run with back to back league wins over Brentford and Southampton and then a 3-2 victory away to Red Bull Leipzig in the Champions League. Emery mixed his team up a little for the Forest game, giving 20 year old striker Jhon Duran a start, much deserved after a superb run of form from the bench. A brilliant 25 yard curler in the win over Red Bull persuaded Emery to give the Colombian a start against Forest as it was his tenth goal in all competitions with only four starts; Duran also scored from the bench in four of Villa’s opening five Premier League matches, and he has scored more goals from the bench than any other player in the big five leagues in Europe. 

Duran scored against Forest to put Villa in charge but two late goals put an end to a promising run of form. He will hope to start again up front alongside Ollie Watkins and they are a handful for any defence. But Villa will surely have plenty of defending to do and with Pau Torres and Diego Carlos back together in the centre of defence they are ready for a battle with Erling Haaland and co.  

 

Guardiola searching for the answer

The Manchester derby turned out to be yet another nightmare for the Manchester City boss as his team managed to out-do Villa who let a 1-0 lead go in the 87^th minute of their loss to Nottingham Forest. It was a poor Manchester derby but one in which the Sky Blues looked to be coasting towards a win, thanks to a first half header from defender Josko Gvardiol. But an 88^th minute penalty and a last gasp winner from Amad Diallo broke City hearts and gave their boss another almighty headache! This was the second time recently that the Sky Blues have let a game go late on, after surrendering a 3-0 lead over Feyenoord in the Champions League. And at the other end of the game the Sky Blues have failed to score goals when they are well on top and Guardiola was visibly frustrated in the aftermath of defeat to the Red Devils, saying: “Today we have to win that game. We give it away again and we have to keep working. When you win games the energy is higher. I am incredibly well paid to handle these situations.” 

I won’t argue with that and, with eight defeats from 11 games Guardiola is under no illusions that this is simply a blip. Before this run City were top of the Premier League and the only unbeaten team in Europe. It’s an incredible decline but the latest Aston Villa vs Manchester City betting odds say Guardiola has an even chance of solving the problem in Birmingham. 

 

History

The Sky Blues have won 34 to eight of their encounters with Villa and there have been ten draws, but while City won 4-1 at the Etihad Stadium last season, as Phil Foden scored a stunning hat-trick the Villains came on top with a 1-0 home win earlier in the campaign.   

With three wins, one draw and two defeats, Villa’s form is better than Manchester City’s efforts which have yielded one win, two draws and three defeats; and Villa have won four, drawn three and lost one at home this season.      

 

Betting Tip

After picking up just one win in 11, at last the Sky Blues are odds against to win a game, priced here at SBOTOP at 2.12, still favourites but odds against. 

Villa are priced at 2.90 to win with the draw at 3.27 and it would be foolish of anyone to claim to know how this one will pan out. But one thing that has been evident in most of City’s recent games is that they have bossed the possession and made good chances in the opening 20 minutes or so but, while previously the Sky Blues would be one or two goals up, they have missed the mark recently and paid the price.

On Saturday I expect Manchester City to be on top again in the early exchanges and, sooner or later, the chances will go in.       

   

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