Villa play yet another game against one of the top teams in the Premier League in the form of Man City this weekend. After games against Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, Paul Lambert’s men will have faced all of the top four from the last campaign in consecutive matches. Man City will hope to register another away win after dispatching Hull, eventually, in their last match.
Aston Villa will have been dreading this run of fixtures when they were announced but having beaten Liverpool at Anfield, it couldn’t have got off to a better start. They were however bought back down to earth with heavy defeats to Arsenal and Chelsea with Everton on the horizon after the clash with City. Villa go into the game however in sixth place in the league with 10 points after winning three of their first four games. In this fixture last season, Villa caused an almighty upset by edging a five goal thriller with Andreas Weimann grabbing the winner in a 3-2 win which the fans will hope to see a repeat of this Saturday.
Champions Man City have not as yet reached the standards that are normally expected of them but have made a steady start to the season nonetheless. Having played Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea already this season in their first six games, they will be quietly happy that they came out of those fixtures unbeaten so that they can push on in the forthcoming games against so called lesser sides. That being said, City did lose to Stoke at home earlier in the season which anything can happen on the day.
Team News
Aston Villa
Although unlikely to start, Villa could see the return of two vitally important players in the form of Ron Vlaar and Christian Benteke. Benteke missed the World Cup with a calf injury and Vlaar has missed over a month with a similar injury. Libor Kozak is still nursing a broken leg and is due to return in the next month or so.
Manchester City
Samir Nasri will not be available until at least the end of the month after suffering a groin injury but midfielder Fernando may be available for the trip to Villa Park. Matija Nastasić is the only other player missing from the squad.
Possible Line-Ups
Interesting Facts
- Man City have only lost one of their last 16 away games in the Premier League.
- Man City have scored at least two goals in 12 of their last 14 matches in the Premier League.
- 75% of Aston Villa’s goals this season have been scored in the first half.
- In the last six fixtures between the sides, there has been an average of 3.5 goals per games.
- Sergio Aguero has scored 10 goals in his last 12 league away matches.
- Frank Lampard has scored 13 Premier League goals against Aston Villa and has scored four goals in his last four games for City.
Recent Head to Heads
2013/2014      Wed 07 May  Man. City       4 – 0    Aston Villa
2013/2014      Sat 28 Sep     Aston Villa      3 – 2    Man. City
2012/2013      Mon 04 Mar   Aston Villa      0 – 1    Man. City
2012/2013      Sat 17 Nov     Man. City       5 – 0    Aston Villa
2011/2012      Sun 12 Feb    Aston Villa      0 – 1    Man. City
2011/2012      Sat 15 Oct      Man. City       4 – 1    Aston Villa
Key Players
Aston Villa – Andreas Weimann
Andreas Weimann has started the season off well and having scored the winner in the match between the two sides last season, he will have his eye on goal again against City. Since joining Villa back in 2012, he has been impressive on occasions but not managed to perform on a consistent basis. Weimann has managed to notch two goals in his first six games with both of them coming against wins against Stoke and Hull City, with both goals coming from only two shots on target. With Benteke out of action, the Austrian’s importance to the Villa side as an attacking outlet has increased and is relied upon to score and assist alongside Agbonlahor. In terms of his creative output, Weimann has contributed one assist from four chances created and will likely to cause the City defence trouble if Villa play to their capabilities.
Man City – Edin Dzeko
After scoring his first goals in the league this season with a brace against Hull, Dzeko will look to those goals at the catalyst to go on and produce the form which helped City win the league last season. With the attacking quality that Man City have it is sometimes tough for players like Dzeko to get into the starting eleven often but with the form he has shown towards the end of last season and in some games so far this season he is one of the player that has become very key for Man City. He hasn’t lived up to the heights of last season so much this time around but in the match against Hull he really showed that he is getting back to his prolific goals scoring ways which he has lacked this season with only 36% of his shots being accurate and a conversion rate of 18%.Â
Prediction
Although they have suffered comprehensive defeats in the last two games, Villa have shown over the last year that they are capable of causing an upset against a big team. Man City will go into the game confident that they can go home with all three points but I think Paul Lambert’s men will be able to fight for a draw.
My Prediction – Aston 2-2 Man City
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