Manchester City meet Aston Villa in a blockbuster Premier League showdown in the race for a top-five finish.
Victory will see Man City climb to third heading into the weekend, whilst Villa can leapfrog their hosts with a win and go fourth.
Team News
Man City have no fresh injury concerns following their 2-0 victory at Everton on Easter Saturday.
Ederson (muscle), Nathan Ake (foot), Erling Haaland (ankle), John Stones (thigh) and Rodri (knee) remain ruled out.
Aston Villa too have no fresh injury concerns after a ruthless 4-1 home win over Newcastle
When is Kick-Off?
Man City host Villa at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday 22 April at 8pm BST, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Man City have avoided defeat in three of their last five meetings against Villa (W2, D1, L2).
- Aston Villa are winless in their last 14 league visits to Man City (L14).
- Victory would see Unai Emery’s achieve a first league double over Man City since 1962-63 season in the Old First Division.
- Omar Marmoush has scored in each of City’s last three matches at home (W2, D1).
- Villa have kept clean sheets in each of their last four away matches in all domestic competitions (W4), during which they won each of their last three on the road by 3-0 results.
Prediction
Separated by a single point coming into this game, Man City and Villa both know that defeat here would be a strong blow to their prospects of a top-five finish but both teams though will have one eye on their FA Cup semi-final fixtures this coming weekend.
City though have to be more clinical and sharper than they were in their win at Everton because Villa won’t be as wasteful as Everton proved to be, especially with their attacking pace which could pose issues for the Cityzens’ defence as they discovered at Villa Park earlier this season.
Unai Emery’s Villains meanwhile were just superb in their ruthless demolition of Newcastle from the intensity and press to the finishing and basic desire to win, which they will need here if they’re to do the league double but they are in more consistent form and unified.
I expect this to be a proper battle especially with Omar Marmoush having found form at home for City but if Villa can defend as well as they did against Newcastle and bring the same passion, I can’t see them losing them such is their momentum domestically.
Prediction: Man City 1-2 Aston Villa
