Aston Villa

Nick Mashiter
Senior football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Unai Emery is unlikely to entertain any jitters but, after four points from their past four games, the Aston Villa boss would be forgiven for looking over his shoulder.

Their lead over Tottenham in the race for fourth place is much more fragile having been cut to two points with seven games remaining.

Spurs' 4-0 win at Villa Park last month did much of the damage and they clawed another point back this week.

While Spurs were held to a 1-1 draw at West Ham on Tuesday, Villa's 4-1 defeat at Manchester City 24 hours later gave Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou a further chink of light in their Champions League chase.

A game in hand over Villa, against Chelsea, is Tottenham's trump card in the run-in but they will still be looking for Villa to progress in Europe to aid their own Champions League goals.

Emery leads his side back into the Europa Conference League for their quarter-final first leg with Lille next week, which will continue to add to the changing picture of European qualification.

The Uefa coefficient points for English clubs in Europe are crucial if the Premier League is to earn an extra Champions League place next term.

Italy are top of Uefa's coefficient table with Germany second and England third, meaning Villa's progress in Europe could help tip the balance in the Premier League's favour if their Bundesliga rivals slip up.

Mike Taylor
BBC Radio WM reporter

Do you remember David Beckham’s metatarsal?

Some 22 years ago, the nation was distracted for a few weeks by a single short bone – temporarily turned into two shorter bones by a poor tackle – and whether England’s World Cup prospects would be similarly fractured if it didn’t heal post-haste.

The Prime Minister spoke of the urgent need for recovery; Uri Geller appeared on television to focus the nation’s collective mental powers to the task. Exactly what did the trick who can say, but the foot was fixed, Beckham scored against Argentina, and England made their then-standard run to the quarter-finals.

I raise this memory as we contemplate a Villa-flavoured sequel, with Ollie Watkins’ hamstring the body part in, as it were, the spotlight. His non-appearance for the second half against Wolves caused an audible ripple of concern around Villa Park that seemed to feed back on the team for a while, unsettling them until the second goal that eased them to victory.

Throughout this season the prime fear for many Villa fans has been injury to the two players arguably most difficult to replace from within their squad. The late withdrawal of Emi Martinez from last night’s game ensured Villa would take the field in the Premier League without either of them for the first time since they were signed in September 2020.

The nightmare scenario turned out not to be a nightmare – or at least, not for that reason. Robin Olsen has by no means been popular with Villa supporters but was not at fault last night, and Jhon Duran scored a good goal.

Unai Emery’s team selection raised other questions. Did he pick the strongest available team? Pau Torres stayed on the bench throughout; Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans did not appear until Villa were 3-1 behind.

With several other key players missing – McGinn, Kamara and Ramsey, not to mention the long-termers – perhaps Emery did examine the fixture list, assess Villa’s likely chances in each game, and take a view.

“We have to try to save some players,” he said afterwards. “We decided to do a competitive team with some young players too to get some confidence. The focus is now Brentford and a difficult match coming up on Saturday."

Would the best-available Villa team have stood a better chance? Maybe. But they’ll be under much more pressure to beat Brentford, and Lille next week, and they’ll be fresher. And now, Villa fans can channel their mental powers towards fixing Watkins’ worrisome muscle.

*Tune in to the BBC Radio WM Football Phone-In – weeknights 1800-1900 BST.

Aston Villa ended up well beaten by Premier League champions Manchester City but will feel they were always fighting insurmountable odds.

Unai Emery's side were in the game at 1-1 until Nicolo Zaniolo inexplicably turned his back on Phil Foden's free-kick on the stroke of half-time, leaving stand-in keeper Robin Olsen with no chance as City restored their lead.

Sweden international Olsen was a late replacement for Argentina World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez, who was initially on the team-sheet before pulling out through illness shortly before kick-off.

It may have been then that Emery and Villa, already missing main striker Ollie Watkins through injury and captain John McGinn because of suspension, thought it was not going to be their night.

Villa threatened to get back into the game, City keeper Stefan Ortega saving well from Douglas Luiz and Clement Lenglet, but in the end they were overpowered by the brilliance of hat-trick hero Phil Foden.

This was a depleted and jaded Villa and the return of Martinez, McGinn and another injury casualty Jacob Ramsey, cannot come soon enough for Emery.

Villa are still in fourth place, two points ahead of Tottenham, who have a game in hand. It has been an outstanding season so far but Emery will be desperate to avoid any further bumps in the road as they try to win the Europa Conference League and qualify for next season's Champions League.

Read Phil McNulty's report

We asked for your thoughts on Wednesday's Premier League game between Manchester City and Aston Villa.

Here are some of your responses:

Man City fans

LaticsLad: That’s more like it! After the bore draw this was City back to our potent, probing, unforgiving ways. Foden on fire. Love watching him wherever he plays but in that central role he’s just electric. So tight at the top. We are in the fight. Exciting for the neutrals but looks like another nail-biter for City fans! We never make it easy on ourselves.

Rhiannon: Absolutely brilliant from Foden. He can easily fill the void of De Bruyne and Haaland. In a few seasons this team will revolve around him. We just need to keep winning to put pressure on Arsenal and Liverpool if we want to win the title again.

Rodrigue: Now City have beaten a team in the 'big six'. It's weird to say that but that's the reality. The team has clicked at a very good moment. A good performance overall. Foden has shown one more time he's at his very best playing in the middle of the pitch. Let's win our nine remaining games and hope for some twists from Arsenal and Liverpool.

Villa fans

Michael: 4-1 is hardly a surprise given the side Villa put out - the discussion is focusing on Man City's absent two, but the absent six or seven for us were far more influential. Martinez, Watkins, McGinn, Cash, Pau Torres and Kamara are all players we need to have to be challenging the top teams. No worries about this result, move on and get fit for the run-in!

Steve: The gulf in class is there for all to see but we made it so easy for City. We hardly won any duels one on one, gave them three of the goals through sloppy possession and the wall for the free-kick was a joke. We obviously missed our big players but still didn’t put nearly enough hard work in. City were brilliant but we made it easy.

David: Injuries and suspensions meant this was always going to be difficult, but we played like we were expecting to lose. Chambers and Zaniolo demonstrated why they won't be here next season. Rogers is looking better with every game though and is incredibly versatile.

Former Aston Villa midfielder Ian Taylor has tweeted about defeat at Manchester City: "One to write off and move on. Hoping as many fit and well as possible for Saturday which was always going to be bigger……keeping the faith!"

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Former Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce says their defeat to Manchester City will not be damaging to their season or their push for a top-four finish.

Villa are two points ahead of Tottenham in fifth and 11 clear of Manchester United in sixth, but Spurs have a game in hand.

"It is a big season and they have shown they bounce back," said Bruce on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily Podcast.

"One or two results is not going to define the excellent job that Unai Emery has done.

"He has done an incredible job. They are challenging for a Champions League place while being deep in a European campaign themselves.

"It has been a great achievement for them this year so far."

Listen to the Football Daily Podcast on BBC Sounds

Gary Lineker introduces highlights and analysis from this midweek's Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up on the action on BBC iPlayer.

Image source, Reuters

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery, speaking to TNT Sports after Wednesday's 4-1 loss at Manchester City:

"Robin [Olsen] played well, we conceded four goals but he saved some so really good. Until the first goal we played well. We had a chance to draw the match but when they scored the third goal they showed their power. They are up there with Arsenal and Liverpool and today they confirmed it.

"We have some injuries, we played Saturday and again this week. We have to try to save some players. We decided to do a competitive team with some young players too to get some confidence. At the end of the match we know they deserved the match, they were better than us and they showed it.

"The focus is now Brentford and a difficult match coming up on Saturday."

Here are the key facts and figures following Manchester City's Premier League win against Aston Villa:

• Manchester City's Phil Foden scored his third Premier League hat-trick, aged just 23. The only players to score more hat-tricks in the competition before turning 24 are Robbie Fowler (seven), Michael Owen (seven), Harry Kane (six) and Erling Haaland (five).

• Foden's hat-trick was the 40th by a Manchester City player in the Premier League; only Liverpool (42) and Arsenal (41) have had more in the competition. Of those 40 City hat-tricks, 24 have come under Pep Guardiola.

• Manchester City are now unbeaten in their past 40 home games in all competitions (W34 D6), only the second time in their history that they have recorded a run of 40 or more matches without defeat on home soil (42 games from December 1919 to November 1921).

• Rodri scored his eighth goal of 2023-24 for Manchester City in all competitions, now the highest tally of his career in a single season, overtaking his seven in 2021-22.

• Aston Villa suffered their first away defeat of 2024 in the Premier League (P6 W3 D2 L1). Villa have now, however, lost 19 of their past 20 away games in the competition against sides starting the day in the top three of the table (W1).

• Villa's Jhon Duran (20 years, 112 days) was the youngest visiting player to score against Manchester City at Etihad Stadium in the Premier League since Marcus Rashford in March 2016 (18y 141d).

Phil Foden struck a stunning hat-trick as Manchester City continued to apply pressure to Premier League title rivals Arsenal and Liverpool with a commanding win over Aston Villa at Etihad Stadium.

Manager Pep Guardiola left key men Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne on the bench after Sunday's drab draw with Arsenal, but the reigning champions still had too much for injury-hit Villa, who also lost goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to illness just before kick-off.

In their absence, Foden produced a masterclass to take his tally to 21 goals this season, but it was Rodri who struck first for City after 11 minutes when he swept home Jeremy Doku's cross at the near post.

Villa were dangerous on the break and drew level nine minutes later when Jhon Duran beat Stefan Ortega with a low finish after a neat exchange with Morgan Rogers.

It was then that Foden took charge, restoring City's lead with a low 20-yard free-kick on the stroke of half-time, although Villa's Nicolo Zaniolo played his part by turning his back in the wall.

Foden extended City's lead after 62 minutes when he fired low past Villa's deputy keeper Robin Olsen after good work by Rodri, then claimed his treble in style seven minutes later with a fine drive into the top corner from the edge of the area.

Were you at the match or did you follow it from elsewhere?

Manchester City fans - let us know your thoughts on the game here

How did you rate the side's performance, Villa fans?

Follow all of the reaction here

Three games make up Wednesday's Premier League action, and we will bring you every moment.

All times BST

Follow all of the action here

Around the grounds - listen to BBC Radio 5 Live coverage of all things Premier League

Chris Sutton is making predictions for every Premier League game this season against a variety of guests.

For the midweek matches on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, he takes on UB40 drummer and Birmingham City fan Jimmy Brown.

Sutton's prediction: 2-1

I thought some of the criticism of Manchester City striker Erling Haaland after Sunday's draw with Arsenal was well over the top.

It is not Haaland's fault City did not create enough opportunities for him - it is down to players such as Kevin de Bruyne, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva to make those chances.

To compare Haaland to a League Two player, which is how Roy Keane described him on Sky, is just ridiculous.

It doesn't matter who gets the goals against Aston Villa, but City cannot allow the gap to leaders Liverpool to get any bigger than three points.

Villa will make it tough for them and carry plenty of attacking threat themselves, but this is a must-win for Pep Guardiola's side... and I think they will win.

Brown's prediction: 3-1

Nothing doing for Villa here! City will go 2-0 up, Villa will pull one back and push for an equaliser but then City will wrap it up with a third late on when Villa leave themselves wide open.

Read the rest of their predictions here

Image source, Getty Images

Unai Emery had high praise for Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola before the two teams meet in the Premier League on Wednesday.

"He is the best coach in the world for me," said Emery. "Analysing him in Spain and here in England, he is a brilliant coach and he has given a lot of coaches a new way of working.

"He is very competitive. To be the very best it's more than just tactics. It's about being humble as a person and the management of players. He has shown all of that in my opinion.

"I am trying to get better like that myself."

Aston Villa travel to Etihad Stadium with the hope of doing the double over Guardiola's side after beating them 1-0 in December.

But Manchester City have three-point gap to make up to catch Premier League leaders Liverpool, while Villa need to continue to keep a distance to fifth-place Tottenham in the race for a Champions League spot.

"Facing Manchester City is always exciting," added Emery.

"To be consistent is the challenge I have with my players and then if we win, lose or draw, it is about getting balance."

Katie Stafford
BBC Sport journalist

Manager Unai Emery has been speaking to the media before Aston Villa's Premier League game at Manchester City on Wednesday (20:15 BST kikc-off).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Ollie Watkins and Jacob Ramsey are not available but Watkins could return for Saturday's home game against Brentford.

• On the absence of the two attacking players: "We have had a lot of bad circumstances with injured players, but we are always trying to be positive. The players in the squad are there because we believe [in them], and we believe in our capacity to respond."

• He said forward Jhon Duran "will have the opportunity to get minutes, to get confidence and to show his power and capacity" with Watkins unavailable.

• On Saturday's victory over Wolves: "It was a difficult match in difficult circumstances after the break. We got the points but we need to improve a lot of things that we didn't do. Sometimes you can win a match not being brilliant but disciplined. The best quality we have as a team is being disciplined."

• He said "we are very motivated" to play Manchester City and fight for a place in next season's European competitions because "we want to play a lot of matches".

• On the hope of qualifying for the Champions League: "We are very deserving to be there [in the top four] but there are a lot of matches to play and gain points from. Manchester United are also capable of doing that."

• He said he "is very happy" with Nicolo Zaniolo, adding: "In the past two months something has changed and he has been getting better for us."

All the key lines from Tuesday's Premier League news conferences

Here are the key facts and figures before Wednesday's Premier League fixture between Manchester City and Aston Villa.

• Manchester City have won 17 of their past 18 Premier League home games against Aston Villa, including the past 13, since a 2-0 loss in April 2007.

• Following their 1-0 win at Villa Park in December, Aston Villa are looking to secure their first league double over City since the 1962-63 campaign.

• City have won 27 of their past 29 Premier League games played on a Wednesday, with their sole defeat in that run coming against Villa in this season's reverse fixture.

• Villa’s shot conversion rate is 14.4% this season, their highest on record (since 1997-98) in a Premier League campaign. In the same timeframe, their record of 14.4 shots per game is their third-highest in a season, after 2002-03 (16.2) and 2001-02 (14.7).

We asked for your thoughts on Saturday's Premier League game between Aston Villa and Wolves.

Here are some of your responses:

Aston Villa fans

Rob: I thought the substitutions were bang on at a vital point in the game. Zaniolo was superb, especially his pressing, and must surely be pushing for a start at City on Wednesday night.

Nick: Another three points and that’s what counts. It may not have been that pretty but a win is a win and keeps us in fourth. Next game against Man City is huge!

Jon: We weren’t at it for the first 25 minutes and I was grateful for Emi’s world class save from Ait Nouri. However after 10 minutes of Villa pressure we scored and we didn’t really ever look back. Bit worried about Ollie Watkins but love watching Duran and Zaniolo at the moment UTV.

Wolves fans

Fraser: Wolves was second best here and without our best players it is easy to see why. Villa deserved to win, our season has been a success as many people were writing us off for relegation. Finishing top 10 and getting some players back fit is surely now the aim. Kilman could have done better for the one goal. We miss Dawson as a real leader!

John: The lads gave their all. Gomes was the best player on the pitch. It showed our lack of strength in depth in the final third and that was the only difference between the two sides.

Mike: Disappointed with the result, we dominated for the first 20 minutes of each half but only created one clear chance which Ait Nouri missed. Really lacking a goal threat without our three main strikers. We will soldier on to the end of the season. At least some of our youngsters got some Premier League minutes.

Alex Scott introduces highlights and analysis from Saturday's eight Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up on the action on BBC iPlayer.

Listen back to Saturday's BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Sports Extra match commentary in full:

Nottingham Forest v Crystal Palace

Aston Villa v Wolves