Aston Villa v Man City

Aston Villa vs Manchester City Preview

Two surprisingly out of form sides in the Premier League will take to the field in Saturday lunchtime's encounter at Villa Park as Aston Villa play host to Manchester City with Villa looking to bounce back from a 2-1 loss away from home at Nottingham Forest, while Manchester City are still likely to be licking their wounds following the 2-1 defeat to Manchester United in last Sunday's Manchester derby.

Having managed to collect just two wins from their previous eight matches overall in the English top flight along with being dealt four defeats, it's perhaps no surprise that Villa now find themselves outside of the top five places in the table in seventh place.

Wins against Brentford and Southampton, both of whom have yet to register an away win so far this season along with losing seven of their eight away games, have been overshadowed by recent defeats to the likes of Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest respectively.

However, Aston Villa still remain pretty solid on home soil at Villa Park as Unai Emery's side have suffered just the single defeat so far this season along with being unbeaten in their last seven home games.

Manchester City's woes continued last Sunday afternoon despite holding a 1-0 lead over their neighbouring rivals, Manchester United, as City somehow contrived to lose 2-1 at home to Manchester United thus making it just one win from their last seven games in the Premier League.

That single highlight within their previous seven games came in the form of a resounding 3-0 home win against Nottingham Forest but five defeats within this period have resulted in Pep Guardiola's side to drop out of the top four in the table and down to fifth place.

Defeats at the hands of Bournemouth, Brighton, Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester United have been uncharacteristic at best, and downright disastrous at worst, and The Citizens now find themselves nine points adrift of the Premier League leaders, Liverpool.

To make matters worse, three out of Manchester City's five recent losses have been incurred on their travels and this perhaps does not bode well for this upcoming visit down to the west midlands on Saturday lunchtime.

A 2-2 draw away from home at Crystal Palace in their last outing on the road in the Premier League at least steadied the ship after being dealt three away defeats on the trot but this upcoming encounter against an equally out-of-sorts Aston Villa outfit suggests this could be a scrappy affair.

Aston Villa v Manchester City Verdict

Both Aston Villa and Manchester City have really struggled for results in recent weeks and therefore this upcoming encounter may be settled by just the single goal.

Therefore, our main bet will be Manchester City win @ 2.05

Other side bets worth considering:

Manchester City win & BTTS No @ 4.33

Correct Score: Manchester City 1-0 @ 12.00