Aston Villa vs Man City – preview
Premier League leaders Man City resume their English top-flight campaign this Wednesday, with the Cityzens preparing to face one of this season's surprise package: Aston Villa. Villa Park will be the venue for this 3:15 p.m. tie as the table-toppers look to put their recent FA Cup disappointment and the European Super League fiasco behind them and return to winning ways.
Guardiola's side head into this tie on the back of their disappointing FA Cup semi-final defeat, losing 1-0 to Chelsea at Wembley over the weekend. Not only did that result eliminate them from the prestigious tournament, but it also robbed De Bruyne and Co. of the opportunity of completing the historic quadruple.
Pep made several changes, including resting Ederson and handing Zack Steffen a start. While the manager defended this decision, the USMNT was culpable for the one and only goal as the American shot-stopper came way off his line, leading to Hakim Ziyech's strike.
This will be City's first game since the whole European Super League fiasco took the footballing world by storm. On Sunday, the EPL giants, alongside 11 other continental heavyweights, announced the formation of a breakaway European Super League. This sparked worldwide backlash, with fans and football commentators joining hand in voice their outrage.
One of the biggest issues regarding this move was the closed format, with 15 of the allocated 20 spots set to be reserved for the founding clubs. Pep Guardiola, who sat with the media on Tuesday for his pre-match press conference, openly spoke out against this tournament, claiming it is not a sport if success is guaranteed to certain clubs regardless of their league performance.
Since then, Man City have pulled out of the tournament and will be looking to focus on Wednesday's game. The Cityzens have seen their lead at the top slashed to eight points, having lost their last EPL outing 2-1 at home to Leeds. Can they beat Dean Smith's impressive Aston Villa side?
The Villans have been one of the surprise packages this season but the Midlands side have struggled in the absence of Jack Grealish, picking up only two wins in their last nine games without their Englishman, who has picked up a shin injury. As a result, Dean Smith's side have fallen down the table but they could return to the top half with a victory 10th-placed Leeds and 9th-placed Arsenal are only two points ahead. Do not miss this Villa Park showdown.
Team news
Aston Villa: Jack Grealish isn't expected back until May while Trezeguet could be out for the remainder of the season. Morgan Sanson is expected to return but the same cannot be said for Wesley.
Man City: Expect Guardiola to field his strongest XI. Ederson, Stones, Zinchenko, Gundogan, Foden, and Mahrez could all return to the lineup, having been benched in the loss to Chelsea. Sergio Aguero is expected to be out while De Bruyne has been ruled out due to the foot injury he picked up at Wembley.
Key stats
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Man City have won 11 of their last 13 encounters with Aston Villa.
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The last time the Villans recorded a win over the Cityzens was back in September 2013.
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Guardiola's side have won their last 14 games played on Wednesday while Dean Smith's side have lost every single game played on this day this season.
Broadcast listings
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
