City take on Unai Emery’s men with a 20:15 (UK) kick-off at Villa Park.
John Stones and Rico Lewis, both on the bench for the Tottenham 3-3 draw, come into the starting line-up against the Villans in place of Rodrigo and Jeremy Doku.
The return of Stones is a big positive for the boss as he makes his first start since the 3-0 home win over Young Boys in the Champions League in early November.
Doku misses out through injury after coming off in the second half against Spurs while Rodrigo - along with Jack Grealish - misses out through suspension.
Rodrigo and Grealish picked up their fifth – and decisive - yellow card on Sunday.
City will look to get back to winning ways after three top-flight draws in succession – and no better day to do it on than Wednesday judging by our record!
City have won 25 of our last 26 Premier League games on a Wednesday – the other result being a draw against Brighton in May 2023. Our last loss on a Wednesday was a 2-1 defeat to Leicester in December 2018.
TEAMS
VILLA XI: Martinez, Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Digne, Luiz, Kamara, Tielemans, McGinn, Bailey, Watkins
Subs: Marschall, Cash, Moreno, Lenglet, Diaby, Zaniolo, Duran, Dendoncker, Ramsey
CITY XI: Ederson, Walker (C), Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol, Stones, Lewis, Foden, Bernardo, Alvarez, Haaland
Subs: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Phillips, Ake, Kovacic, Gomez, Nunes, Bobb
TACTICS
Ederson will be between the posts this evening and looks set to be supported by a four-man defence of Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji and Josko Gvardiol. Walker, who captains the side, will play on the right with Gvardiol on the left and Akanji and Dias between them.
John Stones and Rico Lewis could well be our central cogs in midfield with Phil Foden on the right and Bernardo Silva down the left.
Erling Haaland will lead the line, supported by Julian Alvarez.
13…unlucky for some!
13 is a significant number ahead of tonight’s encounter with Aston Villa.
Villa are winless in their last 13 Premier League games against us (D2 L11), their last victory a 3-2 win at Villa Park back in September 2013.
Unai Emery has also failed to win any of his 13 managerial meetings with Pep Guardiola in all competitions (D4 L9), which is the most he’s faced an opposing manager without ever winning.
Villa, however, have won their last 13 Premier League home games, the longest ongoing run in the division. In fact, only twice in their league history have they won more consecutive home games, having 14-game runs between January-November 1903 and December 1930-October 1931.
Something has to give tonight.
100 UP FOR AKE TONIGHT?
If substitute Nathan Ake comes on this evening, he will reach 100 City appearances.
In the process, he would become the 22nd player to reach the milestone during the Pep Guardiola era and the first of them to come from the Netherlands.
Of our current crop, he would join Bernardo Silva (322), Kevin De Bruyne (317), Ederson (307), Kyle Walker (274), Phil Foden (238), John Stones (235), Rodrigo (225), Ruben Dias (151) and Jack Grealish (104) in the 100-club.
MATCH STATS
- Aston Villa are winless in 13 Premier League games against City (D2 L11) since a 3-2 home win in September 2013.
- City have scored at least once in 17 of our last 18 Premier League games against Aston Villa (48 goals in total), with the exception being a goalless draw at Villa Park in November 2015.
- Aston Villa have won just one of their last 12 Premier League games on a Wednesday (D4 L7), winning 2-1 at Spurs in May 2021.
- City have won 25 of our last 26 Premier League games played on a Wednesday, with the exception being a 1-1 draw at Brighton in their last such match back in May.
- Aston Villa have won just four of their 56 Premier League games against reigning champions (D15 L37), with each one coming against a different side – 2-0 v Blackburn in February 1996, 3-2 v Arsenal in December 1998, 1-0 v Man Utd in December 2009 and 7-2 against Liverpool in October 2020.
- Aston Villa have won their last 13 Premier League home games, the longest ongoing run in the division. Only twice in their league history have they won more consecutive home games, having 14-game runs between January-November 1903 and December 1930-October 1931.
- City have won just one of our last four Premier League away games (D1 L2), beating Manchester United 3-0. We’ve conceded 2+ goals in two of those four games, as many times as we’d conceded multiple goals in our previous 22 on the road in the league.
- Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has never beaten City’s Pep Guardiola in 13 previous meetings across spells with Valencia, Arsenal and the Villans (D4 L9). He’s lost his last five against Guardiola, including all three vs City.
- Ollie Watkins has been directly involved in 15 goals in his last 15 Premier League home games for Aston Villa, scoring 11 and assisting four.
- City’s Erling Haaland has scored a brace in his last two Premier League away games, doing so against Manchester United and Chelsea. He could become just the third player to score 2+ goals in three consecutive appearances on the road, after Dennis Bergkamp (September 1997) and Harry Kane (September 2017).
