Preview for Aston Villa v Man City
Pep Guardiola has little time for the pundits who confidently predicted the demise of his side earlier in the season and are now targeting Liverpool.
August defeats to Spurs and Brighton prompted plenty of talk that Manchester City were on course to suffer a repeat of last season’s disappointing campaign only for Guardiola to mastermind a run of seven wins and two draws in their last nine games.
City are up to second in the table, three points behind leaders Arsenal and one ahead of Liverpool, who have lost their last three in the Premier League.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s trip to Aston Villa, Guardiola said: “In the first two, three games we were done and now it looks like Liverpool are done.
“I’ll tell you that we will be back, I’ve said many times that the pundits, the specialists, the former footballers know what’s going to happen after five games, I’m not able to do that.
“Ten, 15 games to know what’s going on. Liverpool and Arsenal are there, someone else will be there and hopefully we can be there.”
Despite his sarcasm, Guardiola did accept his team remain in a state of transition and have yet to hit their best form.
He added: “We have good momentum but not the consistency for 90 minutes.
“We are starting to understand opponents and what we want to do. Our mentality and our body language is in the right spot and it will make us stable.
“[We need to] play better during 95 minutes, we play good but we need to play better.”
Guardiola described a clash with Villa as “one of the toughest away games we’ll have all season,” despite their shock defeat at the Go Ahead Eagles last night.
“Defensively really good, set-pieces also and after that they’ve improved a lot over the last years,” said Guardiola.
“With the keeper [Emiliano Martinez] they have it’s difficult to control the pressing. They bring a lot of players in the middle, the connection is really good, they break the lines and when that happens they are so, so quick.
“A really complete team.”
Villa’s midweek defeat in the Netherlands came as a shock after five successive wins in all competitions had seen Unai Emery’s side bounce back after a slow start to the season.
Team News for Aston Villa v Man City
Morgan Rogers, Matty Cash, John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara were all left out of the starting XI against Go Ahead Eagles but will come back in.
Lucas Digne should return at left-back.
Nico Gonzalez is City’s main concern after being forced off in the win at Villarreal in midweek with a foot injury. Mateo Kovacic is his likely replacement if he is ruled out.
Abdukodir Khusanov is close but not yet available.
Predicted line-ups for Aston Villa v Man City
Aston Villa: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne; Kamara, Onana; Malen, Rogers, McGinn; Watkins
Man City: Donnarumma; Nunes, Stones, Dias, Guardiol; Kovacic, Savinho, Lewis, Silva, Doku; Haaland
How to watch Aston Villa v Man City: TV and online streams
Aston Villa versus Manchester City kicks off at 2pm UK time on Sunday. It forms part of Super Sunday on Sky and can be watched on Sky Sports Main Event from 12.30pm.
You can also stream it on the Sky Go app.
Stats for Aston Villa v Man City
- Erling Haaland will look to score in a sixth successive Premier League away game
- Aston Villa have won their last two home league games against Manchester City, last winning more consecutively between 1960 and 1975 (5)
- Manchester City have won more points in the Premier League than any other side since the start of April (39 – W12 D3 L2)
