English Premier League. 17th round.
December 21st. 14:30. Birmingham. “Villa Park”
Chief Judge: Peter Banks (England)
Broadcast: Setanta Sports
Birmingham will try to get ahead of Manchester City in the standings. There are no easy matches for Pep Guardiola’s men these days, but the trip to Villa Park would not have been easy even if they were in fine form. And the state of the team now is even more so.
The match promises to be as unpredictable as possible. How will we see City, and what will Emery, who has also not been stable lately, offer us? There are a lot of questions, but we will try to at least provide some answers.
Aston Villa news
Unai Emery’s team started very well at first, then sank and is now trying to improve its playing form. Unfortunately, the Villans’ season is unsettled, and this is partly due to their participation in the Champions League and a rather short bench.
Over the last 5 matches they have 3 wins and 2 losses. They managed to play various matches during this time. First, we simply lost to London’s Chelsea without a chance (0:3), then we beat Brentford (3:1) and everything was quite confident there, although not without problems, of course.
Then there was a tough victory over Southampton (1:0), but they should have scored more, it just happened. Subsequently, there was a confrontation in the Champions League against Leipzig, which they beat with a score of 3:2. And in the last round, they seemed to have the match against Nottingham Forest under control for a long time, but lost the victory in the last minutes. In the end we lost 1:2. That is, this is a team that can be unstable even within one match. However, they usually find it easier to play against such open teams as City than against the pragmatic Nottingham.
“Manchester City” news
The terrible results from Pep Guardiola’s team continue. And everything wouldn’t be so scary if it was only about the results, but there are a lot of questions about the game and this is the main problem. If there is a game, but there are no results, then there is no need to worry too much, they will definitely come. And when there is no game, then something needs to be changed, and while Pep cannot understand how he needs to rebuild the team.
Perhaps we will see another interesting decision against Villa and it may still be effective. But if they don’t offer anything new, then it will definitely be difficult for the “citizens”.
Over the last 5 matches they have only one victory, also one draw and 3 defeats. They beat Nottingham Forest (3:0) and it turned out somehow so easy and ordinary that it seemed that the difficult period was over, but no. There was also a draw against Crystal Palace (2:2), and they lost to Liverpool (0:2) without any chance. They also lost to Juventus (0:2), and in the last round they lost in the Manchester derby, where they won until the last minutes of the game. Although they certainly didn’t play enough to win there. Everything is bad and something needs to change.
Tournament table
Personal meetings
03.04.24 EPL “Manchester City” — “Aston Villa” 4:1
06.12.23 EPL “Aston Villa” — “Manchester City” 1:0
12.02.23 EPL “Manchester City” — “Aston Villa” 3:1
03.09.22 EPL “Aston Villa” — “Manchester City” 1:1
22.05.22 EPL “Manchester City” — “Aston Villa” 3:2
Figures and facts
- Manchester City have won 11 of their last 13 matches against Aston Villa in all competitions;
- Manchester City have scored at least two goals in 11 of their last 13 matches against Aston Villa in all competitions;
- In 6 of the last 7 matches of Manchester City in the Premier League, the bet was 2.5.
Personnel situation, tentative compositions
Now Unai Emery cannot count on the help of Jacob Ramsay, the footballer continues to heal from his injury. Leon Bailey and Tyrone Mings are also questionable for this game.
Pep Guardiola is still without Rodri and Oscar Bobb, both with long-term injuries. Besides them, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji are in the infirmary.
“Aston Villa”, 4-2-3-1: Martinez – Konsa, Carlos, Torres, Digne – Onana, Tielemans – Cash, Rogers, McGinn – Duran
“Manchester City”, 4-1-4-1: Ederson – Lewis, Stones, Diash, Gvardiol – Kovacic – Silva, Foden, De Bruyne, Doku – Haaland
Broadcast of the match
Bets and odds for the match
Forecast for the match between Aston Villa and Manchester City from UA-Football
TB 2.5 – 2:1. Of course, both teams are far from being in ideal condition, but if we are talking about Villa, then there are only minor local failures, and the team is still working, while Guardiola’s team has completely forgotten how it should function. If everything continues in the same spirit, we should expect a victory for Birmingham. Not easy, minimal, but a victory.
This forecast is only one of the possible scenarios for the development of events; it does not guarantee a win.
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