Man City v Aston Villa predictions: Citizens to end turbulent week with a victory

Where to watch

Sky Sports Main Event & Premier League, 4.30pm Sunday

Best bet

Man City to win & under 3.5 goals
1pt 5-4 BoyleSports

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Team news

Man City
Phil Foden should be available. John Stones is out.

Aston Villa
Diego Carlos is still missing. John McGinn could return in a reshaped midfield.

Match preview

Allegations of financial breaches have made for a turbulent week for Manchester City off the pitch, but if Pep Guardiola corrects the mistakes of last week's shocker at Tottenham then his team ought to get back to winning ways on it when they host Aston Villa.

City love the sight of the Villans, having beaten them 12 times in a row at the Etihad in the Premier League.

However, the champions have looked a long way shy of their scintillating best and they make little appeal at skinny match odds, although they should still be able to edge to a low-scoring victory.

Guardiola's men are still much the better team and the surely inevitable recall of Kevin De Bruyne will make them that much more potent.

So City are preferred.although in a game where there may not be loads of goals. City and under 3.5 at 5-4 ticks the box.

This is the start of a monumental week for City in their defence of the title. They can ill-afford a slip-up against Villa three days before they head to leaders Arsenal, who gave them a lifeline in drawing with Brentford on Saturday.

Guardiola, common sense suggests, has to return to his favoured 4-3-3 set-up after far too many tweaks in recent weeks, get assist king De Bruyne back in to serve lone frontman Erling Haaland, and reintroduce a fit-again Phil Foden.

Guardiola is his own man and could opt for none of the above, although watching City flop at Tottenham will surely have made up his mind for him.

Haaland, 1-2 to score at any time and add to his 25-goal haul, looked so out of sorts on Sunday, well marshalled by a physical Spurs' back line and tripping over Julian Alvarez while virtually no service arrived from a De Bruyne-less midfield. Surely that cannot be repeated.

And Villa are improving under Unai Emery. They were obstinate enough under Steven Gerrard when the teams met at Villa Park in September, a match which ended 1-1 despite the Citizens boasting 72 percent possession. The champs mustered only four shots on target.

Villa have won five of eight under Emery and having triumphed at Brighton and Spurs they'll convince themselves they can get something from the Etihad.

It's quite likely Emery will bring reinforcements into midfield and punters need to believe that last week's defensive horror show in the 4-2 loss to Leicester was a one-off.

And if it was, then Villa have nothing to fear at City. They may not win but don't expect them to be blown away, either.

Key stat

Man City have won their last 12 home Premier League matches against Villa by an aggregate scoreline of 38-6.

Probable teams

Man City (4-3-3): Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Laporte, Ake; De Bruyne, Rodri, Gundogan; Mahrez, Haaland, Grealish.
Subs: Lewis, Dias, Phillips, Silva, Palmer, Foden, Alvarez.

Aston Villa (4-3-3): Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Moreno; McGinn, Kamara, Luiz; Bailey, Watkins, Buendia.
Subs: Digne, Young, Chambers, Dendoncker, Ramsey, Coutinho, Duran.