Overview
Man City and Aston Villa are two of the teams with the most impressive form in the Premier League recently.
Coach Pep Guardiola's team is unbeaten in the last 5 rounds, including 3 wins. Meanwhile, Aston Villa has made an even more impressive impression when winning all 5 recent rounds. Notably, the wins were 2-1 against Nottingham or 4-1 against Newcastle. Therefore, the upcoming match promises to be very attractive and unpredictable.
Man City and Aston Villa are also direct opponents in the race for the top 5 of the Premier League, with a gap of only 1 point. Therefore, the upcoming match is a means of survival in the race for tickets to the Champions League. Both coaches will definitely launch their strongest cards.
In general, Man City has shown many problems this season. The absence of Rodri in midfield and Erling Haaland in attack is too big a gap. In contrast, Aston Villa are making great strides. The victory over PSG in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals showed that Aston Villa were not afraid of pressing teams and prioritized possession.
Man City have dominated this game in recent years, winning 15 of their last 20 meetings and scoring 49 goals. Although Villa have won their last two meetings, all of them have come at Villa Park.
At the Etihad, Man City have won 13 consecutive matches against Villa, scoring 3 or more goals in 10 of their last 11 matches.
Personnel situation
Pep Guardiola is expected to rotate the squad, with Mateo Kovacic being promoted from the start. Phil Foden, James McAtee and Jeremy Doku could also be relied upon, while Stefan Ortega will continue to hold the position in goal.
On the other side of the front line, Aston Villa have no unfortunate absences. Ollie Watkins and Ian Maatsen are likely to lead the attack, while Youri Tielemans and Boubacar Kamara will anchor in midfield.
Expected lineup:
Man City: Ortega, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O'Reilly, Kovacic, De Bruyne, McAtee, Foden, Doku, Marmoush.
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Maatsen, Kamara, Tielemans, Rogers, McGinn, Asensio, Watkins.
The match between Man City and Aston Villa takes place at 2:00 am on April 23 (Vietnam time).
