Key events
Unai Emeric: “It is a very good test”
“It’s a very tough and exciting match,” the Villa manager said. “Playing” Manchester city at home is a great cause for us. A very good test.
“They were the best team for the last years in” Supreme League and now, perhaps, there are no constant different circumstances. But they are the best, and the coach is the best.
“It is difficult to stop. In the last few years there were successful events in everything. They have time to be a winner in this competition again.”
Pep Guardiola: “I’m fine”
“We treat the good moments – we treat the bad moments as good,” the Manchester City manager said in a pre-season conference. “I’ve had bad times in my life as a manager but we were able to come back and now it’s taking longer.
“I’ve had experience with that. I had 40 days of bad results. It’s true that it’s much better when you compare it to eight years. It’s been an incredible eight years [results] and now we have 40-45 days [bad results].
“I’m fine. I’m a normal person with feelings like all of us. When things are going well, we’re better and when things aren’t going well, we’re more [focused] which we do.”
Those parts: With Leon Bailey and Tyrone Mings, Ollie Watkins has a place on the Villa bench, with Jhon Duran starting ahead of him. Amadou Onana starts in midfield, with Diego Carlos dropping in.
Pep Guardiola makes six changes to the team that started against British giants Manchester United, with Kyle Walker and Kevin de Bruyne among the notable absentees.
Ederson failed his fitness test and was replaced by Stefan Ortega, while Jack Grealish gets a rare start for the champions against his former club.
Aston Villa V Manchester City straight-ups
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne, Onana, Kamara, McGinn, Tielemans, Rogers, Duran
Substitute: Bogarde, Buendia, Barkley, Watkins, Mings, Maatsen, Nedeljkovic, Bailey, Olsen.
Man- city: Ortega, Lewis, Saxa, Akanji, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Foden, Grealish, Haaland
Subs: Carson, Walker, Ake, Doku, De Bruyne, Savinho, Simpson-Pusey, O’Reilly, McAtee
Today’s official match
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Referee: Peter Banks
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Assistants: Eddie Smart and Nick Greenhalgh.
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The fourth official; Andy Madley.
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OUR: Darren English.
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Assistant VAR: Darren Cann.
Morning team news
The big news from the City camp is that Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake are missing the long term, with Oscar Bobb and Rodri joining the sides, but Pep Guardiola will be able to call on John Stones and Mateo Kovacic, who are both reported to be fit. and prompt reading. Rico Lewis also returns from suspension, but Ederson’s participation is in doubt.
Villa striker Ollie Watkins has recovered from injury but will have to settle for a place on the bench if Jhon Duran gets the in-form nod from United ahead of him. Leon Bailey returns from a short spell injured, but Jacob Ramsey remains.
Premier League: Aston Villa v Mon
Come on now. With the team’s confidence at rock bottom after only one win in their past 11 (eleven!) games in all competitions, Manchester City travel to Village Park hoping to electro-shock their title hopes into life with a much-needed win.
Few would expect them to recover given their abysmal current form, but their hosts are unlikely to take today’s task lightly as they emerged from their mini-luster before hitting the canvas courtesy of two fresh punches from Nikola Milenkovic and Antonio. Elanga in their match against Nottingham Forest last weekend. Kick-off at Village Park at 12.30pm (GMT) but spent the morning in the meantime on team news and building up.