Manchester City vs Aston Villa Preview

Manchester City will look to return to winning ways this Wednesday when they welcome Aston Villa to the Etihad.

The Cityzens missed the chance to narrow the gap at the top of the Premier League table as they were held to a goalless draw with Arsenal last weekend. Although the result stretched their unbeaten run across all competitions to 23 games (W19, D4), they are now three points behind leaders Liverpool.

Now they face the only side apart from Arsenal to beat them and stop them from scoring this season, looking to draw level with Jürgen Klopp’s side who play a day later. Pep Guardiola’s side can expect to bounce back here as Sunday’s draw was the first time the Cityzens failed to score at home since March 2022 against Sporting Lisbon (D 0-0).

They have scored against Villa in every home game since 2008 and will fancy their chances of avenging December’s 1-0 defeat to Unai Emery’s side. They have also won each of the last eight H2Hs here, averaging 3.38 goals per game so the odds are stacked in their favour.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa will look to record a league double over Man City for the first time in the Premier League era while maintaining their pursuit of a fourth-place finish this season when they travel to the Etihad on Wednesday.

The visitors maintained their three-point lead over Tottenham in the race for fourth place with a routine 2-0 win over Wolves on Saturday. That win ended Emery’s men’s run of two games without a win, yet the pressure is on as they must still play each of the top three sides this season.

To get to the finishing line with a positive result, they must continue on their trajectory of being defensively solid away from home. The visitors have yet to lose a competitive away game this calendar year (W4, D4), with four of those games accompanied by a clean sheet (W1, D3).

Other fixtures taking place this week in the Premier League Fixtures:

Premier League Table