This should be a game for City to lick their wounds and find the way ahead, continuing in the title race with Arsenal and Liverpool.

They are coming from a disappointing draw against Arsenal at the weekend in a really boring game, which followed another draw in the previous round against Liverpool. Although they played well and deserved more, they struggled to create chances and the games finished with draws (1:1 and 0:0). Now they need to bounce back with a strong and solid performance against Aston Villa, in order to gain confidence and continue in the title race.

Arsenal and Liverpool have very easy games at home (Luton and Sheffield), which means that most probably they’ll take the three points. City is at the moment 3 points below Liverpool and 1 below Arsenal, so the victory here is mandatory. Also because the current form of both rivals are strong enough to think that they won’t miss too many points till the end of the season.

Lately City is struggling to create chances in attack, and that’s not only Haaland’s fault. Also their rivals recently have been pretty strong but I believe that once they find the net, will start to generate much more as it looks more like a confidence problem. For this fixture we could see some changes in the lineup, adding Grealish and Doku instead of Kovacic, which shows less respect to the rival and a more offensive approach.

At home they are unbeaten so far (10/5/0) in the Premier League.

On the other hand, Aston Villa is having an amazing season. Coach Unai Emery is undoubtedly the best coach in the league at the moment, because with a limited team they are 4th in the league. They won the previous game against City (1:0) so know that can hurt this team. However, won’t be easy this time.

I believe that Aston Villa has been over performing this season. They don’t have a team to be in the TOP4, and although it’s a huge success and deserves all the respect, this isn’t their real level. They are also doing well in the Conference League where they qualified to ¼ finals after beating Ajax in ⅛ finals.

They have a short squad and are struggling with the midweek games. In the weekend round between the Conference League games they were destroyed 0:4 by Tottenham. In the previous midweek round - FA Cup against Chelsea - lost 1:3. Three days later, played another league game against United where they lost 1:2.

Previously, we can also find another example - FA Cup against Chelsea (0:0) at 26th, and just 4 days later a Premier League game against Newcastle where they lost 1:3.

Their best player and topscorer Watkins, who has scored 16 goals this season (+ 10 assists) and is fighting with Haaland for the topscorer’ title, will miss this fixture and will be a huge miss for Aston Villa.

I think when a little bit of pressure starts to creep in City’s view they come out fighting and prove us all wrong and make us feel silly for ever disbelieving. I expect them to bounce back and Haaland to be on the scoresheet, with an easy home win and a solid performance by Man City.

这场比赛应该是曼城舔舐伤口，找到前进的道路，继续与阿森纳和利物浦争夺冠军的比赛。

他们刚刚经历了一场令人失望的战平阿森纳的比赛，这是一场非常无聊的比赛，而上一轮他们又战平了利物浦。尽管他们踢得很好，应该得到更多，但他们很难创造机会，比赛以1:1和0:0结束。现在他们需要在对阵阿斯顿维拉的比赛中以强劲而稳定的表现反弹回来，以获得信心并继续争夺冠军。

阿森纳和利物浦在主场有非常轻松的比赛(卢顿和谢菲尔德)，这意味着他们最有可能拿到三分。曼城目前比利物浦低3分，比阿森纳低1分，所以在这里取胜是必须的。也因为这两个对手目前的状态都足够强大，他们认为在赛季结束之前不会失去太多积分。

最近曼城很难在进攻中创造机会，这不仅仅是哈兰德的错。而且他们的对手最近也很强大，但我相信一旦他们找到网，就会开始产生更多，因为这看起来更像是一个信心问题。对于这场比赛，我们可以看到阵容上的一些变化，用格里利什和多库代替科瓦契奇，这显示了对对手的尊重和更多的进攻方式。

在主场，他们在英超联赛中至今保持不败(10/5/0)。

另一方面，阿斯顿维拉正在经历一个惊人的赛季。主教练埃梅里无疑是目前联盟中最好的教练，因为在有限的阵容下，他们在联盟中排名第四。他们赢了上一场对阵曼城的比赛(1:0)，所以我知道这会伤害到这支球队。然而，这一次并不容易。

我相信阿斯顿维拉本赛季表现过度了。他们没有一支队伍能进入TOP4，尽管这是一个巨大的成功，值得所有的尊重，但这并不是他们的真实水平。他们在西部联赛中也表现出色，在决赛中击败阿贾克斯，晋级半决赛。

他们的阵容很短，正在为周中的比赛而挣扎。在联盟两场比赛之间的周末回合中，他们以0:4被热刺击败。在之前的周中对阵切尔西的足总杯比赛中，我们以1:3输掉了比赛。三天后，我又和曼联打了一场联赛，他们1:2输了。

此前，我们还可以找到另一个例子——26日对阵切尔西的足总杯(0:0)，以及仅仅4天后对阵纽卡斯尔的英超(1:3)。

他们最好的球员和最佳射手沃特金斯本赛季打进16球(+ 10次助攻)，正在与哈兰德争夺最佳射手的头衔，他将错过这场比赛，这对阿斯顿维拉来说将是巨大的损失。

我认为，当曼城的压力开始蔓延时，他们就会挺身而出，证明我们都错了，让我们感到愚蠢，因为我们一直不相信。我希望他们能反弹，哈兰德能在主场轻松获胜，曼城表现稳定的情况下进球。