At A Glance
Manchester City roll into town on Wednesday night as Aston Villa look to continue their recent upturn in form under Steven Gerrard.
The new head coach has overseen victories against Brighton and Crystal Palace in his first two Premier league games, seeing off the Eagles 2-1 last time out.
Those wins have pushed the club up to 13th in the table ahead of the visit of title-chasing City.
Pep Guardiola’s team are also arriving at this fixture in fine form after three straight wins, seeing them climb to second place.
The Citizens have taken 13 points from their six away games in the league this term, and they beat rivals Manchester United 2-0 on their last road trip.
Riyad Mahrez has emerged as City’s top scorer in all competitions, netting eight times thus far.
Standout Stats
Aston Villa have lost 12 of their last 14 Premier League meetings with Manchester City (W1 D1), conceding 39 goals against the Citizens in these games (2.8 per game).
Aston Villa have lost 13 of their last 14 Premier League games against reigning champions, though they did beat Liverpool 7-2 at Villa Park last season. The last time they won consecutive home league games against the reigning top-flight champions was in April/December 1976 (vs Derby and Liverpool).
Aston Villa won just one of their eight midweek (Tue, Wed, Thu) Premier League games last season (12.5%), beating Spurs 2-1 in May. In the 2019-20 campaign, the Villans won 44.4% of their midweek league games (W4 D3 L2).
Manchester City have won each of their last 15 Premier League games played on a Wednesday, scoring 36 goals and conceding just six. Only Liverpool (21 on Saturdays between 2018 and 2020) and Man City themselves (17 on Saturdays between 2017 and 2018) have had longer winning runs on a specific day of the week in the competition.
14 of Aston Villa’s 18 Premier League goals this season have come in the second half of games (78%), with six of those strikes coming in the final 10 minutes – including three of their four so far under Steven Gerrard.
Aston Villa have won both of their Premier League games under Steven Gerrard so far – in the club’s history, no manager has won either their first three top-flight games, or first three games in all competitions in charge of the Villans.
Ashley Young registered his 42nd Premier League assist for Aston Villa in their win over Crystal Palace, a record for the club in Premier League history. He has assisted in his last two Premier League appearances, and at 36 years and 145 days on the day of this game, he would become the oldest Englishman to assist in three consecutive games, breaking Chris Waddle’s record from 1997 (36y 126d).
Man City boss Pep Guardiola has lost just three of his 64 Premier League games against English managers (W56 D5), with those defeats coming against Roy Hodgson (December 2018), Frank Lampard (June 2020) and Graham Potter (May 2021). Steven Gerrard will be the 19th different English manager he’s faced in the competition, only failing to win his first meeting against two of the previous 18 – who both have the first name Steve (Agnew and Bruce).
Ilkay Gündogan both scored and assisted for Manchester City in their 2-1 win over West Ham, the first time he’d done both in a Premier League game since September 2018 against Cardiff City. He has created 19 chances for City in the Premier League this season, a tally only Jack Grealish can better (26).
Head-To-Head
Aston Villa and Manchester City have a lot of history, playing each other 175 times dating back to a first division clash in 1899.
Villa have won 57 times, drawn on 41 occasions and lost 77 of the meetings, including ten of the last 11 matches.
The Last Meeting
Aston Villa fell to a 2-1 defeat against Manchester City at Villa Park in April, in a clash which saw both sides reduced to 10 men.
John McGinn swept Villa ahead after just 20 seconds – registering the club’s second-fastest goal in Premier League history after Dwight Yorke’s 12-second header in September 1995.
Yet slick City levelled courtesy of the impressive Phil Foden before Rodri headed the visitors ahead.
John Stones saw red on the stroke of half-time following a late challenge on Jacob Ramsey, handing Villa hope of getting back into the encounter but the hosts were reduced to 10 men themselves just before the hour mark as Matty Cash was dismissed for two quickfire bookings.
Team News
Danny Ings will not feature against the Citizens after aggravating an injury in training.
Bertrand Traore and Trezeguet are Steven Gerrard’s only other injury absentees.
Pep Guardiola has said City are in an "emergency” with just "14 or 15" senior players for the trip to B6.
Ferran Torres is out with a foot problem, Aymeric Laporte is suspended, Kevin de Bruyne is yet to train after a bout of Covid-19 and will not play.
Meanwhile, former Villan Jack Grealish and Phil Foden are doubts.
The Boss
“The players have to take belief and confidence not just from the results but the performances that they’ve given. You can see quite clearly that they’re listening and trying to do what we’re asking of them. We’re also aware that the games are coming thick and fast. A real good side are coming into town tomorrow, so it will be a real big acid test for us. It’s one that we want to give a real good, positive account of ourselves in.”
Steven Gerrard
