The Premier League season continues with a huge match in the race for the Champions League on Tuesday evening when Manchester City play host to Aston Villa in what could be pivotal to the top five landscape.
Manchester City currently occupy the final spot in the Champions League next season but Aston Villa will go above them should they win the match so there is plenty at stake here, especially with both teams only having four matches remaining after this one.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League channels with the build-up beginning at 7pm ahead of the kick off at 8pm.
Manchester City
Whatever happens from here on in this will not have been the season that Manchester City would have had planned at the outset. They can still win a trophy in the FA Cup and can still qualify for the Champions League but they would have been expected to have contended in the two big competitions much stronger than they have done. That doesn’t mean that they can just stroll in now though. It is imperative for City that they are playing Champions League football next term.
To be fair, as is so often the case with the Cityzens, Pep Guardiola’s men have found their form towards the end of the season and go into this match off the back of four wins and two draws in their last six matches in all competitions, the majority of which have been without Erling Haaland too. You still suspect that City can be got at defensively but their attacking output is certainly improving and they will fancy their chances of keeping up an excellent record against Villa at the Etihad.
Aston Villa
Aston Villa are enjoying a fine season. They made it to the quarter final of the Champions League where they were the bounce of a ball away from taking PSG to extra time, are still in the FA Cup and are well on track to finish in the top five of the Premier League and guarantee another campaign in the elite of European football next term. They are on the outside of the top five looking in though so this is a match that they can’t afford to lose but they would do themselves no harm if they can win.
The big problem that Villa could have here is that generally their best performances have been saved for Villa Park this season, including the resounding win over Newcastle United at the weekend. That said, things have begun to turn on their travels as they have won the last three matches away from home and haven’t conceded a goal in them, although they were all against opponents lower than them in the table. Villa have only taken one point out of 15 against teams above them in the table away from home.
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Team News
Ederson is still said to be nursing a groin injury so he could be saved for the cup semi-final. Manuel Akanji returned from the bench at the weekend and might get a longer appearance ahead of the Wembley trip here.
Unai Emery has been rotating his side in recent times and if he does that again then the likes of Lucas Digne, Marcus Rashford and Axel Disasi are among those who could come into the side while Ross Barkley might get more minutes here too.
Betting
This is generally a high scoring fixture when it takes place at the Etihad Stadium and I see no reason why that trend won’t remain in place over the course of this 90 minutes because there is no doubt that both sides attack a lot better than they defend and both will know that they need to go and win the game if they can. That makes me think that goals have to be on the menu here when you consider the last three matches here have ended 3-2, 3-1 and 4-1 to City.
With all that in mind I’m a little surprised that we are being teased with a goal line of 3, especially when you consider that the last match here was a 5-2 scoreline which highlights perfectly the strength at one end for City along with the weakness at the other one. City are pretty relentless going forward but if there is a team who can hurt them on the counter then Villa would be close to the top of the list so this has all the credentials for over 3 goals to land.
Tips
Back Over 3 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
