Aston Villa v Manchester City: The Opposition

Manchester Metropolis shall be hoping to finish a run of successive defeats to Aston Villa as they journey to Villa Park on Sunday afternoon. The Blues misplaced 1-0 in December 2023 to finish a run of eight matches unbeaten in Birmingham, then adopted that up virtually a 12 months later with a 2-1 defeat.

Up till then, factors at Villa Park had grow to be a formality, with Metropolis successful six out of eight matches at Villa since 2014. Nevertheless, the Villans have toughened up towards the Blues and shall be hoping for a hat-trick of residence victories over Pep Guardiola’s facet.

Villa at present sit in twelfth place within the Premier League having received three and misplaced two of their eight matches to date. The Villans acquired their season off to a poor begin, failing to attain in any of their first 4 matches, shedding to and managing goalless attracts within the different two.

Having been dumped out of the League Cup on penalties to Brentford, Villa scored their first purpose of the season at Sunderland in a 1-1 draw, and have since scored in each match. On the finish of September, they recorded their first win of the season, beating Fulham 3-1 at Villa Park, and have since scored victories at residence to Burnley (2-1) and away to Spurs (1-2).

Nevertheless, they got here crashing all the way down to earth on Thursday evening after they suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at Dutch facet Go Forward Eagles within the Europa League.

At residence, Villa have received two, drawn one and misplaced considered one of their 4 matches to date, scoring 5, conceding 5 and protecting one clear sheet. Villa have additionally failed to attain twice this season at Villa Park.

Emiliano Buendia is Villa’s high scorer to date this season with two targets to his identify. Buendia has featured in seven matches for Villa, and has tried 11 pictures at purpose. The Argentine midfielder is at present averaging a purpose each two video games and final scored within the 2-1 win at Spurs final weekend.

Donyell Malen, who signed final January from Borussia Dortmund, additionally has two targets this season. He has tried 9 shot from eight matches and has a barely higher purpose ratio than Buendia. Malen’s final purpose for Villa was a brace within the 2-1 residence win over Burnley three weeks in the past.

Morgan Rogers is main the Villa cost with assists. To this point he has created seven possibilities with two taken, whereas Boubacar Kamara additionally has two assists from 4 possibilities created. Lucas Digne has two assists to his identify and creates 1.1 possibilities per match.

Former Arsenal boss Unai Emery is the person making an attempt to revive Villa’s fortunes. The Spaniard joined Villa in October 2022 and led them to a seventh-place end. The next season, Emery led Villa to fourth within the Premier League and Champions League soccer and the semi-final of the Convention League, the place they reached the quarter-final. Villa additionally reached the FA Cup semi-final, shedding out to eventual winners Crystal Palace.

Emery has a good file at Villa Park. He has presided over 152 matches, successful 81 and shedding 42, giving him a powerful win ratio of 53%.

Villa took benefit of Metropolis’s poor kind final season after they recorded a 2-1 win at Villa Park. Jhon Duran scored after 16 minutes and Morgan Rogers doubled the lead on 65. Phil Foden pulled a purpose again in damage time however it wasn’t sufficient to cease one other defeat.