Fixtures
- Aston Villa Vs. Manchester City – Sat, Dec 21st 2024, 12:30
Aston Villa will look to return to winning ways on Saturday when reigning Premier League champions Manchester City visit Villa Park.
Unai Emery’s side will be hoping to bounce back from last weekend after a heartbreaking late defeat at the hands of in-form Nottingham Forest.
They host City on the back of seven Premier League games unbeaten at Villa Park, with wins in their last two outings on home turf, over Brentford and Southampton.
Pep Guardiola’s men, meanwhile, are enduring something of a difficult run of form, with just one win in their last 11 games in all competitions seeing them slip to fifth in the table.
They will be looking to respond to a late defeat last weekend themselves after Manchester United dealt them back-to-back losses with a comeback in the Manchester derby on Sunday.
Stats
Aston Villa are unbeaten in each of their last seven at Villa Park (W4 D3). They’re looking to win three in a row at home for the first time since a run of 15 between March and December 2023.
Only against Newcastle have Manchester City won more Premier League games (31) and scored more Premier League goals (102) than they have against Aston Villa (30 wins, 98 goals).
Villa won this exact fixture 1-0 last season but haven’t won consecutive home league meetings with Man City since April 1993.
Manchester City have lost two of their last three Premier League games in which they’ve led at half-time (vs Brighton and Man Utd), as many defeats as in their previous 102 such games (W91 D9). The Cityzens haven’t lost three such games in a single campaign since 2003-04.
The Villans have conceded 25 goals in the Premier League this season, from an xG against of 19.5, shipping around five more goals than would be expected (5.5). Only Wolves (40 goals conceded, 27.6 xGA) have a worse such record this term (-12.4).
Manchester City have lost eight of their last 11 games in all competitions (W1 D2), as many as they had in their previous 106 combined (W78 D20). They last lost more in a single campaign in 2019-20 (12).
Josko Gvardiol has scored more goals than any other defender in the Premier League this season, while his four goals are the second most of any Manchester City player this term after Erling Haaland (13).
Manchester City have had more shots than any other side in the Premier League this season (282). However, their shot conversion rate is just 9.9%, their lowest in a single campaign since 2006-07 (6.4%).
The Last Meeting
The last meeting between the two sides saw the Cityzens emerge victorious at the Etihad Stadium in April, on their way to lifting the Premier League trophy for a fourth-consecutive year.
Rodri had given the hosts an early lead in Manchester, though his strike was quickly cancelled out by an emphatic finish from Jhon Durán to restore parity.
But a hat-trick from Phil Foden, who would go on to be named PFA Men’s Player of the Year, sealed the points for City, who kept pressure on Liverpool and Arsenal in their pursuit of the title.
Team News
Leon Bailey and Tyrone Mings will return to Aston Villa’s squad for the game, with Bailey having missed the last two matches and Mings ruled out of last weekend’s 2-1 defeat against Nottingham Forest due to illness.
The encounter comes too soon for midfielder Jacob Ramsey, who is close to returning to training with his team-mates.
Pep Guardiola will be without Ruben Dias, while he’s also sweating on the fitness of goalkeeper Ederson.
Manuel Akanji and John Stones are back in full training and Rico Lewis returns from suspension, though Nathan Ake, Oscar Bobb and Rodri all remain long-term absentees.
Managers’ Pre-Match Thoughts
“We’re facing each match respecting the competition. It’s the most difficult competition in the world. Each team is giving us a lot of information about how we are and how we are facing them. Tomorrow we face the best team from the last few years, clearly, in the Premier League. Maybe they’re not being consistent because of different circumstances, but they are the best and their coach is the best.” – Unai Emery
“I’m not surprised [by Aston Villa]. Top, excellent manager. [They had good success] qualifying for the Champions League and the results in the Champions League speak for themselves. They are handling it well because when I have been in many clubs handling both competitions, they have done really well.” – Pep Guardiola
