Everything is ready for Manchester City to host Aston Villa. The Citizens must stop their freefall before it's too late to aim for a Champions League spot. Villa is motivated by their recent achievement against Liverpool, where they knocked out The Reds from the competition and will face Arsenal in the F.A. Cup final.
Sergio "Kun" Aguero has been Manchester's best signing of the summer and the one that keeps his team thinking it is possible to end among the top three in the English Premier League. His 20 goals so far this season have him in the list of the goal scorers table along with Harry Kane of Tottenham.
Yaya Toure has a huge responsibility now
.@YayaToure deserves to be captain while Kompany is injured says Pellegrini http://t.co/pkIyKrTadA #mcfc pic.twitter.com/pI56X98Twy
— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) abril 24, 2015
The Argentinian ace has scored almost a third of the goals for Manuel Pellegrini's team. The Engineer's team has only received 34 goals, but most of them have led to poor results by the Citizens this year. Their most recent losses against Crystal Palace and Man United have cost them serious points in the overall standings.
To make things worst for the Chilean manager, he has four first-team players injured. Kompany and Clichy headline the list and are not expected to return until mid-May. The good news is that they don't have any players suspended ahead of this important game.
The Manchester team might get some confidence by remembering they beat Villa last time they played in October (2-0), but those were still good times for Pellegrini's side. Now, his future with the Citizens is on the line. Before he starts making future plans with the team, he must focus on the task at hand.
Villa must still be on cloud nine after knocking out one of England's giants out of the FA Cup. They were able to stop what seemed inevitable, a final between Arsenal and Liverpool. When it comes to playing in the domestic league, things are a little bit different.
In their last six games, they have only added ten points in their favor. They had earned that same amount in the previous 15. Right now, they stand in 15th with 32 points, three ahead of Sunderland and the same amount of points behind Newcastle.
Villa's best striker matches up with the world's best
Stats Show Aston Villa's Christian Benteke is Europe's Most In-Form Striker http://t.co/UBuNEtPmRj pic.twitter.com/oTb33vZuui
— Talking Baws (@talkingbaws) abril 17, 2015
Villa will walk into Etihad Stadium without five injured players, including Kozak who has a broken leg. They can't relax right now since they are only four points ahead of those teams in the relegation zone. They must hope
Tim Sherwood's team must break a seven-game winless streak at the home of the Citizens in order to keep dreaming of coming back next year to the Premier League. The game may be a test to see if Villa's victory against Liverpool was a fluke, or if the team is really as good as they showed to be at Wembley.
Team sheets for Man City vs Aston Villa
Manchester City's Starting XI: Hart, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Mangala, Kolarov, Fernando, Lampard, Navas, Yaya Toure, Silva, Aguero.
Aston Villa's Starting XI: Guzan, Bacuna, Okore, Vlaar, Richardson, Sanchez, Westwood, Cleverley, Delph, Grealish, Benteke.
Manchester City's subs: Caballero, Sagna, Boyata, Fernandinho, Nasri, Dzeko, Bony.
Aston Villa's subs: Given, Weimann, Cole, Senderos, Cissokho, N'Zogbia, Lowton.
Match details, result and original broadcast info
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Follow the game on-the-go
Download our iOS and Android apps to follow soccer on-the-go. It comes packed with features - live scores, fixtures, results, tables, line-ups, stats, TV schedule and much more! Sorry, no live streaming within the app.
