Premier League: Manchester City vs Aston Villa Live
Preview: Manchester City vs Aston Villa
On Wednesday at 7:15pm, Manchester City vs Aston Villa will take place at the Etihad Stadium. Manchester City, the reigning champions, drew 0-0 against Arsenal in their last game, while Aston Villa, managed by Unai Emery, won 2-0 against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
In the latest development in the race for the Premier League title, Man City fell three points behind Liverpool following a goalless draw with Arsenal on Sunday. This extended their unbeaten streak to 23 games across all competitions. The last team to defeat Pep Guardiola’s team and the previous one to prevent them from scoring before Arsenal was Aston Villa, who will be their next opponents. The draw on Sunday marked the first time City failed to score at home since their 0-0 draw against Sporting Lisbon in March 2022. The last time Villa kept City from scoring at home was in 2007.
Villa continued their push for a fourth-place finish this season by defeating Wolves 2-0 on Saturday. Despite facing pressure as they still have to play the top three teams, Villa managed to secure a victory after a recent dip in form with one draw and one loss. They have now won the same number of league matches this season as they did in the entire previous campaign (18). Their success this season, which includes being 12 points ahead of their performance at this stage last season, is largely due to their strong home record. Villa has been unbeaten in away games this year, winning four and drawing four, with four of those matches resulting in clean sheets.
Head-to-head
Aston Villa surprised Manchester City by winning 1-0 in their recent match in Birmingham last December. Despite this loss, Manchester City has won 10 matches, drawn 1, and lost 1 in their last 12 encounters with Aston Villa.
Prediction
With Emery’s previous team Arsenal effectively frustrating Man City with their defensive strategy, it will be intriguing to see if the Villa manager chooses to adopt a similar cautious approach or continues with their risky high defensive line, which Guardiola’s team could take advantage of. Villa has shown strong resilience away from home, but with Watkins possibly unavailable and Man City having various attacking options, it seems likely that Man City will secure the win against Villa to strengthen their title defense.
