Aston Villa vs. Man City
Venue: Villa Park
Kick off: 4pm
After booking their place in the Capital One Cup final, Manchester City’s attention turns to the FA Cup on Saturday (today) as they travel to Premier League strugglers, Aston Villa.
Although it has been far from plain sailing, Manuel Pellegrini’s side are still in four competitions and eyeing the possibility of a historic quadruple this season.
The New Year did not start well for Villa and Remi Garde with a crushing defeat at the team closest to them in the Premier League, Sunderland, but since then they are unbeaten in five matches.
Two of those, granted, were against League Two opposition in Wycombe Wanderers, who they needed a replay to dispatch and reach this stage of the competition.
League performances have improved of late, though, and four points from two home matches against Crystal Palace and current leaders, Leicester City, followed by a goalless draw away at West Bromwich Albion is not relegation form.
However, there is a double-digit gap to safety for the Villans and it would still be a miraculous escape if they could beat the drop, especially with sides outside the bottom three like Swansea City and Bournemouth improving of late.
Given Villa’s plight at the foot of the table, it is surprising to see that they are yet to sign a player in the January transfer window.
Five players have left either permanently or on loan – the latest being Philippe Senderos – but none have arrived and there has been little speculation suggesting that any late moves might be made in the remaining four days of the window.
Villa are seven-time winners of the FA Cup, last triumphing in 1957, and they have also been on the losing side four times in the final, most recently last season when they went down 4-0 at Wembley to holders, Arsenal.
Talk continues over the future of Pellegrini, but his side are still fighting on four fronts after overturning a two-goal deficit on Wednesday night in the League Cup.
Ross Barkley’s early goal put Everton 3-1 up in the tie, but City soon responded through Fernandinho’s deflected shot before Kevin De Bruyne came off the bench in the second half to ignite a fightback and send City through to a final with Liverpool next month.
De Bruyne’s goal and assist won the tie for City, but the night ended with a bitter taste for the club as the Belgian wideman fell awkwardly and had to be stretchered off with suspected knee and ankle ligament damage.
The deciding third goal was expertly headed home by Argentine frontman, Sergio Aguero, who also bagged a brace in the 2-2 draw at West Ham United on Saturday and now has seven goals in seven games.
Keeping Aguero fit is absolutely vital if City are going to take the lead in the Premier League title race and mount a better challenge in the Champions League, although a last-16 draw against Dynamo Kiev was certainly favourable when runaway Ligue 1 leaders, Paris Saint-Germain, could have come out of the pot.
Like Villa, City are yet to do any meaningful business this month and the injury to De Bruyne could force the club’s hand in the final days before the window shuts.
The Citizens have won this competition five times, but only one of those successes has come in recent years since they became one of England’s modern giants – a 1-0 win over Stoke City in 2011.
They reached the final two years later, but were stunned by Wigan Athletic, who went on to be relegated from the top flight just days later.
Villa possible starting lineup: Guzan, Richards, Okore, Clark, Richardson, Bacuna, Veretout, Westwood, Grealish, Sinclair, Kozak.
City possible starting lineup: Caballero, Zabaleta, Otamendi, Demichelis, Clichy, Fernando, Delph, Navas, Iheanacho, Sterling, Bony.