Aston Villa v Man City LIVE: Premier League team news, line-ups and more today

Pep Guardiola has backed Erling Haaland in a bid to turn around Manchester City’s poor form but has not ruled out signings in January.

City are suffering an unprecedented slump in Guardiola’s glittering managerial career as they have lost eight and won just one of their last 11 games in all competitions.

In the midst of the crisis, the usually prolific Haaland has dried up in front of goal, with the Norwegian striker – isolated and out of chances – scoring just one goal in his last five appearances.

Still, while the supply lines have clearly fizzled, Guardiola has no interest in changing his approach and reverting to the false nine system that has served him well in the past.

“I prefer to play with Erling,” Guardiola said ahead of his Premier League trip to Aston Villa. “I don’t think that in the situation I have, I won’t let Erling play – absolutely not. No, no, I didn’t think about that.”

Manchester City have suffered another injury, with defender Ruben Dias ruled out for four weeks.

Manager Pep Guardiola revealed the Portugal international suffered a muscle problem in the latter stages of last week’s derby defeat to Manchester United.

Guardiola said at the press conference: “After 75 minutes against United, he felt something.

“He is strong and wanted to stay on the pitch, but now he is injured.”

Txiki Begiristain was looking forward to the party. Manchester City, often called big spenders, have spent more than any other English club before on one player. They made Jack Grealish a £100m man. Their director of football called his most expensive recruit “one of the most exciting attacking players in world football”.

Three-and-a-half years later, Grealish returns to Aston Villa on Saturday as, arguably, neither an attacking nor an exciting player. Instead, the maverick has been reinvented as a curiosity, a Pep Guardiola project who now does far less of the things often associated with excitement—score goals, get them, run at defenders—than he used to. There are those at Villa Park who will recognize the local accent and see a familiar face. But the player they might see is quite different.

More successful, Guardiola can claim, an individualist who became part of a championship team. Grealish may have sacrificed some spirit, but he got silverware in return. In the glory of the treble, it seemed like a good compromise. Now? Maybe not.

The recent form of both sides makes predicting results particularly difficult, although you’d expect Guardiola and City to rectify their misfortune sooner or later, and a win at Villa Park would be the perfect start.

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Ollie Watkins has recovered from a slight knock but Jhon Duran is likely to start ahead of him after impressing during his absence. Leon Bailey could return to action and Tyrone Mings is available again after missing the match against Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Jacob Ramsey is still out.

Aston Villa v Man City is set to kick off at 12.30pm GMT on Saturday 21st December at Villa Park in Birmingham.

The match will be shown on TNT Sports 1, starting at 11 o’clock. Subscribers will also be able to stream live through the discovery+ app.

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Aston Villa host Manchester City in an early start to the Premier League this weekend, with both sides looking to finally turn their run of bad form around.

Unai Emery’s side sit a respectable seventh, two points behind City, but have won just three of their last 10 home matches despite their better form in the Champions League.

And Pep Guardiola’s men are currently stuck in the middle of one of the story lines of the season, with just one win in their last 11 matches after last weekend’s dramatic collapse in the Manchester derby.

However, despite this unprecedented run of form for the champions, they remain in fifth place, just one point behind Nottingham Forest in fourth, and a win would take them level on points with Arsenal – who are in third ahead of their match against Crystal Palace later today.