Manchester City will not compromise

Luckily escaping danger during the away match at Goodison Park last weekend thanks to two shining moments at the end of the match from the bench players Nico O'Reilly and Mateo Kovacic, Man City won enough 3 points against Everton to continue to nurture hope in the top 4 race.

Saying lucky is somewhat underestimating the strength of last season's Premier League champions, but after all, Man City has been and is experiencing its worst season under Pep Guardiola. Almost becoming a former champion when 19 points behind the leader Liverpool, Man City has also been eliminated from the League Cup, Champions League and only clings to the FA Cup arena as well as the hope of earning a place in the European Cup next season.

Erling Haaland's injury at the most unexpected time has forced Man City to now put their hopes on secondary players, the attack has new signing Omar Marmoush and the back line has factors with the potential to create moments of brilliance, like how O'Reilly and Kovacic did in the last two matches against Crystal Palace and Everton.

Manchester City quyết không nhân nhượng- Ảnh 1. — Omar Marmoush competes with Ollie Watkins in the “six-point match” at the Etihad. Photo: MANCITY

Hosting Aston Villa in the "6-point match", Man City at home certainly does not want to give the advantage to the opponent because any team that stumbles at this time will face the risk of being re-instated. With only 3 Champions League spots left, Man City and Aston Villa still have to be extremely wary of competition from Newcastle, Nottingham Forest and Chelsea.

In Haaland's absence, Omar Marmoush has high expectations, but the Egyptian striker has yet to adapt well to the speed and harsh demands of English football.

It will be a fierce but unequal match on both sides of the front line, on one side is Omar Marmoush and on the other side is the attacking line showing its strength with Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers, not to mention the strategic cards in the hands of coach Unai Emery such as Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio, Donyell Malen...

Excluding Haaland, the remaining Man City strikers are completely unable to compare with Ollie Watkins in terms of efficiency. The English international has scored 15 goals and made 7 assists in the Premier League this season. Bookmakers put their faith in Watkins' brilliance (scoring or assisting) in this match with a very high rate, betting 1 to win up to 2.14.

In the Premier League alone, coach Unai Emery's team has won all 5 recent rounds, no matter how tough the opponents are (Brentford, Brighton), the opponents who have to compete for relegation (Southampton) or compete for the top 4 (Newcastle, Nottingham Forest)... Aston Villa is confident that they have enough strategies and trump cards to win points at Etihad for the first time in 18 years, in the Premier League alone.

The Villas have won and kept a clean sheet in their last three away games in the Premier League, not to mention their recent form has been impressive with 10 wins in their last 11 games in all competitions.