Manchester City get us back under way in the second half.

Just some news that broke earlier this afternoon...

Fulham have sacked manager Kit Symons after Saturday's 5-2 home defeat by Birmingham left the club 12th in the Championship table.

Symons, 44, took charge in October 2014 after the departure of Felix Magath and leaves the club eight points short of the play-off places.

Fulham chairman Shahid Khan said: "It is now time to take Fulham to the higher level of success that we expect from our manager and our players."

Image source, Getty Images

Here's the average position for each player on the pitch. Manchester City slightly more advanced - but should they be attacking down the Aston Villa right a bit more?

Image source, Opta

This doesn't bode well for the home side.

Eight of Man City's last nine Premier League goals against Aston Villa have come in the second half.  

Fred Eyre
Former Man City player on BBC Radio Manchester

"Manuel Pellegrini didn't push Yaya Toure a bit further forward to support Kevin De Bruyne. I'm not advocating him going right up top as I don't think that works for Yaya. Without Wilfried Bony and Sergio Aguero City do have a minor problem because we don't have a recognised target man, someone you can fire it to. I would have thought Bony would been a straight swap for Kelechi Iheanacho, rather than Jesus Navas."

New Aston Villa boss Remi Garde will be happy with that. Goalless at the break.

Image source, Reuters

Aston Villa Ciaran Clark in a bit of trouble after taking a knock to the face. Luckily for him, he's still got his looks. Wonder how Stoke defender Erik Pieters is looking this morning.

One minute of added time.

Manchester City fans baiting the Aston Villa ones with a chant of: "He's top of the league, Fabian Delph, he's top of the league."

Top marks for observations for the visiting fans.

Image source, Reuters

Great battling from Kevin De Bruyne on the right, but his deligthful ball into the box just evades the reach of the diminutive Raheem Sterling.

The longer legs of Edin Dzeko would have got to that. Villa still holding firm.

....over the bar.

Carles Gil's free-kick sails over. Disappointing.

Image source, Reuters

It's Carles Gil who strikes it...

Spaniard Carles Gil and Frenchman Jordan Veretout over the free-kick, discussing the set-piece in English...obviously!

Fred Eyre
Former Man City player on BBC Radio Manchester

"I don't think you can have a penalty for that. There was mild contact, with an exaggerated dive. The purists will say contact is contact regardless of whether it's mild. But the players don't do themselves any favours with the way they go over."

It's been rather quiet at Villa Park in recent games, but the Villa fans have found their voices today.

City defender Nicolas Otamendi goes into the book for bringing down the fleet-footed Carles Gil in a dangerous position.

Brian Little
ex-Aston Villa player & manager on BBC WM 95.6

“You can definitely see a change in the style of play from Villa, you can tell there has been some extensive work done on the training ground. Villa need to keep it steady and stay in the game and so far they have been pretty solid.”     

There's almost a straight line to be drawn on Aston Villa's team heatmap. Manchester City's defensive shield of Fernando and Fernandinho is clearly proving effective.

Image source, Opta

Raheem Sterling doing his best Ashley Young impression. He dribbles his way into the box before trying to con the referee into awarding a penalty under the challenge of Ciaran Clark.

A clear dive, 10 points for it, but no booking. Tom Daley would have been proud of that one.

Image source, AFP/GETTY