Man City Manchester City

A Villa Aston Villa

TEAMS

Joao Cancelo, Rodrigo and Phil Foden return to the Manchester City starting line-up to face Aston Villa.

Pep Guardiola has made three changes to the side that beat Crystal Palace at the weekend, with Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fernandinho and Gabriel Jesus the trio who drop to the bench.

Eric Garcia is back in the matchday squad after a five-game absence due to Coronavirus and he is joined on the bench by fellow Academy graduate Adrian Bernabe, who has also been forced to self-isolate in recent weeks.

CITY: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Dias, Cancelo, Rodrigo, Gundogan, De Bruyne (C), Bernardo, Foden, Sterling.

SUBS: Steffen, Jesus, Zinchenko, Torres, Mendy, Fernandinho, Mahrez, Garcia, Bernabe.

ASTON VILLA: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Targett, McGinn, Luiz, Traore, Grealish, Barkley, Watkins.

SUBS: Heaton, Taylor, Guilbert, Engels, Elmohamady, Nakamba, Ramsey, El Ghazi, Davis.

WHEN AND WHERE

City play host to Dean Smith’s side at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, 20 January, with kick-off at 18.00 (UK).

In the UK the game will be shown live on BT Sport. Fans living abroad can check out our global TV listings at the foot of the page to find out how they can tune in to Sunday’s league clash.

If you’re unable to watch the game, you can get minute by minute coverage in our Matchday Centre here on mancity.com and we’ll also have live updates on Twitter: @ManCity.

A full-match replay will be available to watch on CITY+ from midnight after the game.

WATCH: Defensive focus proving key for City, says Guardiola

WE’RE NOT REALLY HERE

Joleon Lescott and Richard Dunne will appear on our We’re Not Really Here matchday show.

The former central defensive duo - who made more than 500 City appearances between them - will be joined by presenter, Cel Spellman to provide expert analysis and opinion on our Premier League clash against the Villa Park outfit.

We’re Not Really Here provides a City focused perspective to your pre-match build-up and begins one hour before kick-off at 17:00 (UK).

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The show will then return at half-time to give a run down on the first 45 minutes and, five minutes after the final whistle, we’ll have half an hour of post-match reaction.

We’re Not Really Here is available to watch on all of our official digital platforms, whilst during the game there will be live commentary and footage of fans around the world, which you can enjoy exclusively on mancity.com and our official app.

WATCH: City 4-0 Crystal Palace: Extended highlights

PEP PREVIEW

“Sergio is not ready for tomorrow. He is still isolating. I don’t know (for how long.)

“Aymeric is at the last step. He is not ready for tomorrow, but he is training with us.

“Yesterday was the first one, today was the second.

“Hopefully (he will be available for the weekend). That would be good news. We need him. We cannot play with just Stones and Ruben. We need Nathan, Eric. We need Laporte.

“The only concern is Aston Villa right now. We don’t know who will be available, right now, we will see tomorrow in the line-up. The performance is the only concerns.

“In this league you can win five games in a row and then lose three in a row. The most important thing is Aston Villa.”

FORM GUIDE

Pep Guardiola‘s side head into the game on the back of an impressive run that has seen City go unbeaten in our last 15 games in all competitions.

Our last outing saw us secure an excellent 4-0 win against Crystal Palace at the Etihad which helped move us up into second place in the table.

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Villa currently sit 11th in the league table after picking up 26 points from 15 games this season.

However, due to a COVID-19 outbreak at the Club’s training ground earlier this year, Villa’s last two scheduled league game at home to Everton and Tottenham were both postponed.

LAST MEETING

The last time the two sides met was in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley last March.

Sergio Aguero and Rodrigo were both on target to fire City into a 2-0 lead before Mbwana Samatta narrowed the deficit.

However, City held firm to secure a third successive League Cup final triumph.

Match Officials

Referee: Jonathan Moss.
Assistants: Harry Lennard, Dan Robathan.
Fourth official: David Coote.
VAR: Andy Madley.
Assistant VAR: Simon Beck.

WATCH: Villa 1-2 City: Carabao Cup final highlights

TV listings