Paul Merson working for Sky Sports TV during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal
Paul Merson
Aston Villa return to Villa Park on Saturday as they prepare to host Manchester City in the match week 17 of the Premier League season.
Unai Emery's men are looking to get back to winning ways against the champions after falling to a late defeat against high-flying Nottingham Forest at the City Ground last time out. In an up-and-down first few months of the season, Villa are ten points worse off than at this point last year and are sitting seventh in the league, three points from the Champions League spots and two away from opponents City who lie in fifth. Prior to the Forest loss, Emery's side had won their last three in a row, restoring their fortunes after an eight-game blip, and will be keen to instantly return to winning ways with a victory over the Citizens.
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Saturday's visitors are undergoing somewhat of a crisis for their standards. With only one win in eleven matches in all competitions, Pep Guardiola's men are struggling to turn their form around and are producing consistently poor performances - only relegation candidates Leicester City and Southampton have picked up less points than City in the last eight games. Like the Villans, they are heading to Villa Park off the back of a defeat, losing to arch rivals Manchester United at home last Sunday. An early weekend trip to B6 is going to be a tricky occasion to turn things around at, with the game between two unpredictable teams proving tough to call.
Former Premier League winner Chris Sutton has had his say on the 12:30pm proceedings, going head-to-head with 'Reverend and the Makers' singer Jon McClure for BBC Sport. Unconvinced by either team, Sutton struggled to pick a victor from the two sides.
"I don't want to call them flat-track bullies but they are only getting wins against the weaker teams," the 51-year-old pundit admitted.
"Maybe we have to put Manchester City in that bracket too at the moment, though?"
Amongst many, there is a sense that the Sky Blues could spring back into life at any given moment considering their history of winning runs in the second half of seasons. Sutton said that the "smart move" for him and other predictors would be to bank on a City win until their inevitable next victory, however, with Villa often so strong at home, this may not be the week to put your mortgage on Pep Guardiola's men.
"I am certainly not going to say they will win at Villa Park, or keep a clean sheet, but then Villa have not really convinced me to back them either," concluded Sutton who named a 1-1 draw as his foretelling.
Ex-Villa midfielder Paul Merson has also thrown his thoughts into the fold, writing for Sportskeeda. If Sutton had a lack of confidence in the Villans' opponents, then Merson did even more so as he questioned where City's next win would come from.
"When is it going to stop with Manchester City?" the 56-year-old pondered.
"This was always going to be the case.
"City are devoid of any confidence right now and I have a feeling they could slip up again.
"A win for Aston Villa would lift them over the reigning champions in the league table and I actually expect that to happen on Saturday. I'd be quite shocked if City managed to win this. It would be an unbelievable result for Villa on home turf."
Merson's prediction is a 2-1 victory for Emery and co. which would be back-to-back home wins over City. The Villans were 1-0 victors last December in one of the best performances against a Guardiola-managed team in recent memory and arguably the finest Villa display in the Emery era, if not longer.
The two sides face off at 12:30pm on Saturday, December 21 in the final match day before Christmas.
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