The reigning English champions have made a less than impressive start to the new campaign and in their last five matches, the Etihad side has managed just two victories. Manuel Pellegrini's men were against Italian side Roma in their last outing a match they drew 1-1 after Sergio Aguero's opener was cancelled out by a wonderful goal from Roma's talismanic striker Francesco Totti.
City's defence has been their Achilles heel so far in the campaign with the citizens having conceded seven goals in the six matches they have played so far in the Premier League and Pellegrini believes that his side must do better if they are to achieve anything this season.
“I think that we must improve,” he said.
“It’s very important to have a clean sheet not only to have a clean sheet but because when you are playing, if you are always conceding one goal before you score, you are playing against the time, against the rival, against the score, against a lot of things."
“One of the things we did last year was improving clean sheets. We had a second half of the season with a lot of clean sheets but the same thing as I said about other things, at this moment last year we conceded more goals. But of course we cannot concede five goals in three [Premier League] games. We scored seven and we draw two games and won one, but it’s too much.”
After a bright start to the campaign Aston Villa have slumped down to sixth place in the Premier League after consecutive defeats at the hands of London sides Chelsea and Arsenal. The Villans conceded thrice in a span of just five minutes as Arsenal raced to a comfortable 3-0 victory during their last outing.
However Belgian international Christian Benteke who suffered an injury back in March last season is set to make a return after a lengthy layoff. Benteke has scored 29 times in 60 Premier League appearances and his return will surely be a boost for an Aston Villa side which has failed to scored in its last two outings.
Aston Villa's Starting XI: Guzan, Hutton, Senderos, Baker, Cissokho, Delph, Westwood, Cleverley, Richardson, N'Zogbia, Agbonlahor.
Manchester City's Starting XI: Hart, Zabaleta, Kolarov, Kompany, Mangala, Milner, Fernandinho, Toure, Silva, Dzeko, Aguero.
Aston Villa's Subs: Given, Bacuna, Clark, Sanchez, Bent, Weimann, Benteke.
Manchester City's Subs: Caballero, Demichelis, Sagna, Lampard, Nava, Jovetic, Fernando.
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