Key events
Unai Emery speaks to Sky Sports. “Good evening … the match today … game 34 … now we are going to play for three points … to be consistent is the most important … the demand for us will be huge … a challenge … try to dominate … duels … feel comfortable … we know all the difficulties we are going to face … it is not a final but it is important … City are favourites … we are motivated and I am very excited.”
He’s pushed on picking Marcus Rashford ahead of the in-form and “fuming” Ollie Watkins, but won’t be drawn, instead simply repeating the word “collective”.
“Poor Ollie Watkins.” So begins Kieran McKintosh’s email. “Clearly Unai Emery didn’t read Point 3 of the latest Talking Points article. Hopefully Watkins gets subbed on in minute 65 or so and rips it up again. He was a joy to watch last week, and a very likeable player.”
So for those that missed it, here’s what Barney Ronay had to say …
Ollie Watkins has a point. What is the appropriate response to losing your starting place in a team you helped drive into the Champions League, to a loan player who has one goal in nine league games? Watkins said he was “furious” and – also, just to be clear – “angry” after being replaced by Marcus Rashford in attack for the prime games against Paris Saint-Germain. He played like it against Newcastle, scoring after 23 seconds, his 15th of the season in the league, and hitting the woodwork twice. Unai Emery made the entirely correct point in victory that football is a squad game and Watkins a fantastic team player. But he is also 30 this year, Villa’s best forward and would slot nicely into the first XIs of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. Maybe don’t make him too angry.
Manchester City make two changes to the team that started the 2-0 win at Everton last weekend. Nico González and Savinho make way for Mateo Kovačić and James McAtee. Ederson is still missing so Stefan Ortega remains in goal.
Aston Villa make four changes to their starting XI after the 4-1 rout of Newcastle United. Pau Torres, Lucas Digne, Amadou Onana, Jacob Ramsey and Marcus Rashford are in; Ian Maatsen, John McGinn, Marco Asensio and Ollie Watkins drop to the bench, while Tyrone Mings misses out altogether. Watkins will very possibly not be 100 percent happy with this turn of events, given how he played on Saturday evening and what he said afterwards.
The teams
Manchester City: Ortega, Matheus Luiz, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Gundogan, Kovacic, Silva, De Bruyne, McAtee, Marmoush.
Subs: Carson, Grealish, Doku, Gonzalez, Akanji, Savio, Khusanov, Foden, Lewis.
Aston Villa: Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne, Kamara, Onana, Rogers, Tielemans, Ramsey, Rashford.
Subs: Olsen, Disasi, Barkley, McGinn, Watkins, Garcia, Malen, Asensio, Maatsen.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire).
Preamble
The race for a top-five finish is heating up …
… so this is a big one. Ostensibly this is too close to call, with Manchester City coming back into form (four wins in five) and Aston Villa very much in it (ten wins in 11). However City’s current streak in this particular fixture is 14 wins in a row, so while Villa triumphed in the reverse fixture last December, Unai Emery’s side have quite the mental hurdle to clear if they’re to complete their first league double over City since 1962-63. Kick-off is at 8pm BST. It’s on!
