Aston Villa vs Man City pre match thread - Jan 12th - 4.30pm

[TonyD]

1.1

[Legion]

Vassilev to possibly feature tomorrow. Training with the first team and not involved in the U23s loss at Norwich on Friday.

[robbo1874]

Car crash. Anything less than 0-3 please Villa. Great result and performance against Leicester with the 3 at the back. Just think City will have too much for us to deal with.

[Richard E]

FIFA predicts Villa 3 (El Ghazi 22, Hourihane 64 Nakamba 86) Man City 2 (D.Silva 7, De Bruyne 88.)

[Bad English]

I can't see Nakamba being on the pitch at the 86 minute mark but I'll 'take that™' if you 'are offering™'

[Richard E]

He was only on the pitch because I can’t be arsed making substitutions.

[Lastfootstamper]

Grealish as the false 9 again?

[Legion]

He was only on the pitch because I can’t be arsed making substitutions.

Hello, Dean.

[robbo1874]

A few words on our visitors by the Guardian. Hey, it’s free:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/jan/11/manchester-city-singular-brilliance-pep-guardiola-jonathan-wilson

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

A few words on the hosts too.

Aston Villa have had rotten luck with injuries but can also count blessings as they prepare to host Manchester City on Sunday. The goalkeeper Orjan Nyland again filled in well for the stricken Tom Heaton in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup draw at Leicester, where Tyrone Mings performed even better. Mings’s return to fitness has made Villa more solid, as has Dean Smith’s decision to switch to a back three, which has the added merit of freeing up Frédéric Guilbert to attack more down the right. “I like it, I think I’ve got what it takes physically to go up and down so the system suits me well,” said Guilbert after scoring at Leicester. “When we press [in this system] we’re quite high, so we can cause danger very quickly when we win the ball ... we’re trying to make the team more solid overall and we hope that will help us gain as many points as possible. Every game in the Premier League is tough but our next one more than most. But we will fight with the weapons we have. We’ll go to war.”

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/jan/10/premier-league-10-things-to-look-out-for-this-weekend

[gpbarr]

think this will be a replay of the game at Etihad

1-3

[Risso]

He was only on the pitch because I can’t be arsed making substitutions.

Dean?

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

Come on Villa boys! Keep it tight at the back, retain possession and pass to our own players in midfield and take the few chances we might get up front and who knows. UTV!

[Drummond]

We can do this. No point entering the game trying to keep the score down.

And back in the real world as long as we try hard it's all we can do.

On form they can run rings around almost anyone, let's hope for a good game plan and for them to be tired too.

Drinkwater with the winner....

[Nii Lamptey]

I’ll miss the game today as I’m at the nipper’s panto, but I’ve woken up cautiously optimistic.
I’m predicting the Jack Grealish show today - 2-1 win! 0-1 down with 2nd half comeback.... Mings and Jack with the goals.
*I’ll wake up in a mo!