Man City managed to beat the buoyant West Ham United this weekend and since Chelsea have dropped points vs Man United, Pep Guardiola’s side are within touching distance of the Blues.
Man City are just one point behind Chelsea so if they can beat Aston Villa in midweek they have a great chance at securing the top spot right before they enter the busy winter schedule.
City are undefeated in 18 of their last 20 away matches in the Premier League and despite Villa’s recent form, Guardiola’s side should be picking up an easy win.
Aston Villa have won both their matches under new manager Steven Gerrard and they have looked really strong in these 180 minutes. Despite this, they are nowhere close to matching up with Manchester City, forget even picking up a point.
The Etihad outfit has a string of winnable games so Pep Guardiola has no real need to rotate his first XI but the Spaniard is known to change his players as well as his tactics quite frequently and the Aston Villa game will not be any different.
Man City team news vs Aston Villa:
Aymeric Laporte is unavailable due to suspension which means John Stones will come in to partner Ruben Dias.
Cancelo and Walker have cemented their place as the two full-backs so we don’t think the Man City boss is going to make any changes to these two positions.
Kevin De Bruyne should be back after recovering from COVID but since Aston Villa are not the toughest of opponents, the Belgian international is likely to remain on the bench and might only come on if Man City can’t break Villa down.
If De Bruyne starts on the bench then Bernardo Sila and Gundogan will hold onto their place.
Walking in a City wonderland ❄️☃️#ManCity pic.twitter.com/uFo5NAD56J
— Manchester City (@ManCity) November 29, 2021
Jack Grealish is yet to recover from his injury and there’s no confirmation if he will be fit to face his former side or not. If the England international is not 100% per cent then it’s going to be Phil Foden who will be deployed on the left flank.
Gabriel Jesus is likely to move to the bench as Riyad Mahrez comes back on the right-hand side. If Foden is operating to the left-hand side then Raheem Sterling will be on the one who will play as the false nine.
Phil Foden is also on the sidelines with an injury but as per the latest reports, the youngster should be fine by Wednesday.
Ferran Torres though is still recovering from his metatarsal injury and is going to be back sometime in January.
Man City predicted line up vs Aston Villa:
Predicted Starting Line up(4-3-3): Ederson; Walker, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Cancelo; Rodri, Gundogan, Bernardo Silva; Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden/Grealish, Riyad Mahrez.
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Stats via Fotmob
