Fresh from his first call-up to the France squad in 12 months, the rejuvenated Moussa Diaby was the catalyst behind Aston Villa’s two-goal beating of West Midlands rivals Wolves on Saturday, opening the scoring in the first half of the Villa Park battle with a thumping left-footed strike.
The former Bayer Leverkusen winger then turned provider for Ezri Konsa, whose mishit cross ended up deceiving Jose Sa and bouncing over the line at the back post to rubber-stamp a routine two-goal success for Emery’s men, who therefore remain in control of their top-four fate.
Taking just one point from two games with West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur opened the door for the latter to upset the Champions League apple cart, but the Lions still boast a three-point advantage over the Lilywhites, who do have a game in hand but possess a slightly inferior goal difference.
Of course, fifth may still suffice for Europe’s top table depending on the coefficient rankings, but amid UEFA uncertainties, Villa’s sole focus is extending their stellar unbeaten away run in 2024; Emery’s men have avoided defeat in each of their first eight road games of the calendar year since Boxing Day’s agonising defeat to Manchester United.
Five of those eight fixtures have also seen Aston Villa keep a clean sheet, a feat they also managed in December’s memorable 1-0 home beating of Man City, but repeating that trick will be an extremely tall order; the Lions have suffered 13 straight Premier League losses away to the reigning champions.
Manchester City Premier League form:
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Manchester City form (all competitions):
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Aston Villa Premier League form:
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Aston Villa form (all competitions):
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We at SOCCER CENTER TV say: Manchester City 2-0 Aston Villa
With Emery’s former employers Arsenal frustrating Man City to excellent effect with their defensive stance, it will be interesting to see whether the Villa boss opts for such a conservative setup or persists with his risky high line, which Guardiola’s men can certainly exploit.
The Lions have proven highly resilient on the road either way, but with Watkins emerging as a serious doubt and their hosts able to switch up their attacking resources, we can only envisage Man City making it 14 home wins on the bounce against the visitors to get their title defence back on track.
