Aston Villa FC vs Manchester City FC, Premier League 2020-2021, Today Match Prediction

Aston Villa FC vs Manchester City FC Match Prediction & Analysis

Manchester City return to Premier League action after a mixed couple of weeks for the league leaders. 

City impressively went through to the Champions League semi-finals last week by beating Borussia Dortmund, although went out of the FA Cup at the hands of Chelsea at the weekend to end all talk of a Quadruple.

In the league, City have also seen their league slip from 14 points to eight, following the good form of 2nd place Manchester United recently. While City are still huge favourites to claim the title, they will want to put their foot down once more to end all talk of a comeback.

On the other hand, Aston Villa have games in hand on the teams above them, but judging by their recent form don’t have the qualities to make up ground. 

Sure, they’ve missed their key player Jack Grealish over the past couple of months, but their has been a noticeable dip in form across the whole squad which has seen them drop out of the top half.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Aston Villa FC Preview

Form Guide (all comps): DDLWL

Reasons to be cheerful:

     Should be fresher as City have played twice since Villa’s last game

     Have been better away from home this season

Reasons to be fearful:

     Jack Grealish continues to miss out through injury

     Lost 11 of their 13 meetings with City

Aston Villa still have an outside chance of qualifying for Europe this season, as they have two games in hand on most of the teams above them.

Maximum points from those games could take them as high as 7th, and with eight games remaining, have a great chance of finishing strongly.

Unfortunately, Villa have one of the toughest fixture lists of any side entering the final stretch of the season. Everton, Manchester United, Spurs and Chelsea all follow City from their remaining eight games and on current form, it’ll be difficult seeing them improving their mixed form.

Jack Grealish will be missing once again here. They’ve only won two of their last eight without their captain, and they’ve lacked a real spark without him. 

Can they pull off something special here?

Star Man – Ollie Watkins

Their top scorer is their main goal threat without Grealish, and has scored in his last two games.

Manchester City FC Preview

Form Guide (all comps): WWLWL

Reasons to be cheerful:

     Aiming for a 10th successive away victory in the league

     Haven’t suffered consecutive defeats since 2018

Reasons to be fearful:

     Two defeats in the previous 10 days is their worst spell of 2021

     Are likely to rotate once again

City will want to return to winning form quickly here in the league after losing two of their last three matches.

They were overturned at home by Leeds in their last league fixture and, although they progressed to the Champions League semi final afterwards, will feel as though they need to put in a big performance here.

The gap to 2nd place Manchester United has been reduced to eight points, and while that is more than enough to win the league come the end of the season, they won’t want that to be cut any further.

The unfortunate news to come from the 1-0 defeat to Chelsea is the injury to Kevin De Bruyne. It’s one where the full extent of the injury is not yet fully known, but it will be a blow to the team should he be out for any length of time.

Star Man – Ilkay Gundogan

The German top scorer for City was on the bench against Chelsea, but will come back into the side here.