Manchester Evening News reporter Simon Bajowski says that Aston Villa are very much an “unknown quantity” ahead of their trip to title-chasing Manchester City this evening (kick-off 6pm).
City will end Wednesday evening top of the Premier League if they beat Villa and Manchester United drop points at relegation threatened Fulham.
This will be Villa’s first Premier League game since their New Years Day defeat to Manchester United, as they then suffered a COVID-19 outbreak at the club.
Villa were forced to shut their training ground with nine players and five staff members testing positive, and they fielded their under 18s team for their FA Cup third round tie with Liverpool, which they lost 4-1.
It is unknown whether Villa manager Dean Smith will have all of his first-team players available to him, but Bajowski thinks the lack of preparation for this game will have a negative impact on their chances of getting a result.
He said: “I would expect a comfortable win for City because of the COVID issues Aston Villa have had. Villa are very much an unknown quantity going into this game because of the outbreak and they’ve not been training – they haven’t played since New Years Day. Jack Grealish is the captain and leader of their team, Douglas Luiz is very good, but it’s very difficult to assess how Villa are going to be because their preparations have been so affected, so City have to be strong favourites.”
Despite having not played for 20 days, Villa find themselves in a good position in the Premier League with 26 points from 15 games. Dean Smith’s side have already taken points off Liverpool, Leicester and Chelsea this season, and will fancy their chances of causing another upset in Manchester.
After a slow start to the season, City are now the most inform side in the Premier League and are also are heavy favourites to lift the title at the end of May. If City do go top of the league tonight, they will be the ninth team to have done so already this season, and Bajowski believes it could prove to be a significant moment in their campaign.
“Pep Guardiola has said before that he’s at his happiest when him and his team are top of the table leading the way. He’d rather not come from behind to win leagues, he’d rather be far out in front and have nobody catch him, so I think it really will be a significant moment if City do go top. It will send that message to (Manchester) United and Liverpool saying ‘we’re top and we will continue to stay top by winning our games and you’ve got to keep winning to keep up with us’.”
A reason for City’s recent improvement in form has been the performances of midfielder Kevin de Bruyne. The Belgian has four assists and one goal in his last five games, and Bajowski thinks he could prove to be the biggest threat to Villa’s defence.
“The run City are on looks very promising. Kevin de Bruyne remains the best player in the league. He didn’t play particularly well against Crystal Palace; but that assist that he made essentially broke the deadlock. He’s always a threat with his delivery.Â
“Ilkay Gundogan has also been excellent as well. City fans really didn’t like seeing him and Rodri in the same team as the feeling was they were too similar, slow and defensive. Gundogan’s really pushed on in recent games and it’s really made a difference to the attack.”
