Key events
The teams
Erling Haaland drops to the bench!
In the blue corner! 🩵
XI | Ortega Moreno, Lewis, Akanji, Dias (C), Gvardiol, Rodrigo, Bernardo, Doku, Foden, Grealish, Alvarez
SUBS | Carson, Stones, Kovacic, Haaland, De Bruyne, Gomez, Nunes, Bobb, Susoho#ManCity | @etihad pic.twitter.com/9lYty11XS8
— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 3, 2024
Here’s some pre-game chit-chat, with Pep Guardiola bigging up his star forward after Roy Keane used those two dreaded words: League Two.
Speaking of Aston Villa’s previous visits to the Etihad, remember this? Madness.
Preamble
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to coverage of Aston Villa’s trip to the Etihad Stadium. It’s a battle between third and fourth, though both sides have different priorities: Manchester City are still in there for a shot at an unprecedented fourth consecutive Premier League title; the visitors are looking to extend their gap with Tottenham and set up Champions League football for next season.
It’s worth looking back at the reverse fixture between the two sides in December, when Leon Bailey scored the only goal to place City in a rare crisis: the defeat at Villa Park was their fourth league game in a row without a win. That proved to be a turning point, with the champions unbeaten since, their immaculate run keeping the prospect of a double treble still alive.
Villa are up against it, missing the threat of Ollie Watkins due to a hamstring injury, and with not much to reminisce about in these parts; they haven’t won a league game at the Etihad since 2007, when John Carew and Shaun Maloney scored in a 2-0 victory. Here’s Carew’s IMDB page if you’re wondering whatever happened to him.
Send me your thoughts, queries, book recommendations, darkest secrets, favourite Carew performance (only acting ones, please), whatever you fancy! Kick-off’s at 8.15pm BST.