At A Glance
The curtain comes down on Aston Villa’s Premier League campaign at the Etihad on Sunday in what promises to be a dramatic day for opponents Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions are looking to secure back-to-back Premier League titles, and victory against Villa will see the trophy adorned with sky blue and white ribbons once again.
A draw or defeat leaves the door open for second-place Liverpool, who can overtake them with a win against Wolves on the final day.
Steven Gerrard’s side travel to Manchester looking for a victory that would push them up the table, with a top ten finish still a possibility should results elsewhere go their way.
The Villans have lost only once in their last six games, a narrow 2-1 defeat to Liverpool, and they tasted success on their last away trip when they saw off Burnley 3-1.
That result against the Clarets meant Villa have won more games on their travels (7) than at Villa Park this season (6), marking them out as a tough test for hosts City.
Standout Stats
Man City have won nine of their last 10 Premier League games against Aston Villa (D1), including the last six in a row. Their last defeat to the Villans came at Villa Park in September 2013 (2-3).
Aston Villa have lost 15 of their last 16 away league games against Man City, losing each of the last 11 in a row since a 2-0 win in April 2007. This run of 11 is the Villans’ longest away losing streak against an opponent in their league history.
Aston Villa have won just one of their 21 Premier League away games against the league leaders (D3 L17), beating Leeds United 2-1 in January 2000. The Villans are winless in their last 16 such games (D2 L14), losing the last seven by an aggregate score of 21-1.
Manchester City have only lost their final league game in one of the last 13 campaigns (W10 D2), going down 3-2 at home to Norwich in 2012-13.
Aston Villa beat Chelsea 2-1 on MD38 last season – they’ve not won their final league game in consecutive campaigns since 1996-97 and 1997-98, with the second victory back then coming against that season’s champions (1-0 vs Arsenal).
Victory for Manchester City will secure them their eighth top-flight title, the outright fifth-most in history since its inception in 1888. It would be their sixth Premier League title (outright second-most after Manchester United’s 13), and their fourth in the last five seasons.
Manchester City have lost just one of their last 27 Premier League games (W22 D4), and are unbeaten in 11 since losing 3-2 at home to Spurs in February.
Victory for Manchester City would be their fourth Premier League title under Pep Guardiola, with only Sir Alex Ferguson winning more (13). It would make Guardiola the outright leader for English top-flight titles among non-British managers, going one clear of both Arsène Wenger and José Mourinho.
Man City have won all five of their final league games of the season under Pep Guardiola – it’s the best such 100% record for a manager in the competition’s history.
Man City’s Phil Foden has scored nine Premier League goals this season, and could join teammates Kevin De Bruyne (15), Raheem Sterling (13) and Riyad Mahrez (11) on double figures in 2021-22. It would be the first time the Citizens have had two English players score at least 10 goals in a league campaign since 2004-05 (Robbie Fowler and Shaun Wright-Phillips).
The Last Meeting
The first defeat of Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa reign came at the hands of Manchester City at Villa Park in December.
Ruben Dias’ deflected strike from distance opened the scoring just prior to the half-hour mark before Bernardo Silva’s sublime first-time volley following a swift City break doubled the visitors’ advantage ahead of half-time.
Ollie Watkins’ well-taken finish from Douglas Luiz’s corner early in the second half gave Villa hope of a fightback.
And substitute Carney Chukwuemeka went close to a leveller, but Villa came up just short against the reigning champions.
Team News
Villa came through Thursday night’s battle with Burnley unscathed.
Leon Bailey and Kortney Hause missed the 1-1 draw and look unlikely to feature at the Etihad, while Ezri Konsa is a long-term absentee.
City have been boosted by John Stones and Kyle Walker returning to training this week, although Pep Guardiola didn’t confirm whether they will be involved.
Ruben Dias remains sidelined with a thigh injury.
The Boss
“We’ve got three massive points to play for and an opportunity to finish on a high. It would be nice if we can reward our supporters with something at the weekend. They’re at the top of the league for a reason, they’re in the latter stages of the Champions League for a reason. They’ve got world-class players and a top-class manager. There’s a lot of pressure on them at the weekend. We’ll go there as best prepared as we can, as organised as we can and try and make it as difficult as we can.”
Steven Gerrard
