A Villa Aston Villa

Man City Manchester City

WHEN AND WHERE

The Premier League clash gets underway on Wednesday 1 December, with kick-off at Villa Park scheduled for 20:15 (UK).

Viewers in the UK can watch the action live on Amazon Prime Video, with our global TV listings at the foot of this page showing where the game is being broadcast around the world.

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Alistair Mann will provide commentary throughout the 90 minutes. 

Minute-by-minute text updates are available in our Matchday Centre, starting at 18:15 (UK).

For those with push notifications turned on, you’ll get alerted as soon as the teams are announced and goals go in.  

And our Matchday Live show with special guests Shay Given and Shaun Wright-Phillips will begin just before 19:15 (UK).

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Our special guests will then reconvene for a quick half-time debrief before a more in-depth post-match verdict, including their reaction to the full-time thoughts of Pep Guardiola and, time permitting, a player.

The guests will also answer viewer questions throughout the broadcast, with audience participation actively encouraged on Matchday Live. To get in touch, send a WhatsApp to: +447537186538.

Highlights from the match can be found later in the evening, while a full-match replay will also be available from midnight following the game with a CITY+ subscription.

TEAM NEWS

City make three changes for tonight’s Premier League trip to Aston Villa with Nathan Ake, Oleks Zinchenko and Fernandinho all coming into the starting line-up.

England duo Jack Grealish and Phil Foden have recovered from injury and are named amongst the substitutes.

Grealish has been injured since the November international break, while Foden was forced to miss the wins over Paris Saint-Germain and West Ham.

However, having returned to training earlier this week, the England internationals are named on the bench.

From the side that started Sunday’s 2-1 win over West Ham, Aymeric Laporte is ruled out by suspension while Ilkay Gundogan and Kyle Walker are both unavailable and haven’t travelled to Birmingham.

Kevin De Bruyne is also absent, having been ruled out of selection for the past few weeks after having tested positive for COVID-19 at the end of the November international break while John Stones is also unavailable tonight.

TEAMS

CITY: Ederson, Cancelo, Dias, Ake, Zinchenko, Fernandinho (c), Rodri, Bernardo, Sterling, Jesus, Mahrez
Subs: Steffen, Carson, Mbete, Foden, Grealish, Palmer, McAtee, Lavia, Wilson-Esbrand

ASTON VILLA: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings (c), Targett, McGinn, Nakamba, Douglas Luiz, Buendia, Watkins, Bailey
Subs: Steer, Hause, Tuanzebe, A Young, Sanson, J Ramsey, Chukwuemeka, El Ghazi, Davis

Pep Guardiola preview

“If (Steven Gerrard) is a manager in the Premier League, he is already a good manager. I don’t believe there is one single manager in the Premier League or the Championship who doesn’t have quality.

“I can imagine when you are a new manager everybody makes a step forward to convince them and because of that they got two results against tough teams like Brighton and Crystal Palace.

“We are travelling there and I can imagine we will face the toughest game possible, that’s for sure.”

Villa boss Steven Gerrard Preview

“(The players have) enjoyed the two weeks that we’ve had together. Winning football matches always helps, in terms of the feeling around the place.

“The players have to take belief and confidence, not just from the results but the performances that they’ve given. You can see quite clearly that they’re listening and trying to do what we’re asking of them.

“We’re also aware that the games are coming thick and fast. A real good side are coming into town tomorrow, so it will be a real big acid test for us. It’s one that we want to give a real good, positive account of ourselves in.”

PREVIOUS MEETING

City’s last league trip to Villa Park was also midweek, emerging as 2-1 victors last April.

The hosts had gone ahead after only 20 seconds as John McGinn guided a shot past Ederson following Ollie Watkins’ low cross.

The impressive Phil Foden then finished off a fine City team move to equalise before Rodri headed in what proved to be the winner following Bernardo Silva’s cross.

LAST TIME OUT

In City’s last league game, Ilkay Gundogan‘s first-half strike and Fernandinho‘s late finish inspired City to a 2-1 Premier League victory over West Ham United at a snow-laden Etihad Stadium.



Riyad Mahrez wonderfully delivered into the box for Gundogan to tap in just after the half-hour mark.

Fernandinho stroked in a late second goal, just minutes after coming onto the pitch.

In the fourth and last minute of stoppage time, Manuel Lanzini scored a stunning consolation goal for the visitors.

FORM GUIDE

Villa come into the game full of confidence after winning both of Steven Gerrard’s matches since he took over as manager.

Guardiola‘s side are also in superb form, winning the last three league matches, scoring seven and conceding just once in the process.

City go into the game with 29 points from 13 matches, whilst Villa have 16 points from the same number of fixtures.

TV LISTINGS