Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City, looks dejected during the Premier League match between City and Manchester United
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola saw his side lose for an eighth time in 11 games as Manchester United staged a late comeback
Manchester City return to action on Saturday lunchtime as they make the difficult trip to take on Aston Villa in the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola's side make the trip to the West Midlands on the back of a dire run of just one win in their last 11 matches and they need to quickly reverse their fortunes if they are to revive their season.
However, they take on a Villa side who continue to impress under Unai Emery, both in the League and in the Champions League, and City know they will have to be at their best to emerge from their trip to Birmingham with three points.
And that has largely been reflected in the varying predictions of a number of prominent Premier League pundits, which have been rounded up below.
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Chris Sutton
The former Blackburn and Celtic forward told BBC Sport: "Aston Villa are 10 points worse off than the same stage of last season, when they were in second place with 35 points from 16 games.
"This time, they are seventh and if you look at their results in the Premier League so far then, apart from when they saw off Fulham in October, they have only beaten teams in the bottom half of the table.
"I don't want to call them flat-track bullies but they are only getting wins against the weaker teams. Maybe we have to put Manchester City in that bracket too at the moment, though?
"In terms of form over the past eight games then only Leicester and Southampton have picked up fewer points than Pep Guardiola's side.
"I keep thinking they will kick back into life, but they actually seem to be getting worse. Everyone is trying to come up with the reason for their poor results - injuries or ageing players, and so on - but they are making basic errors in games and killing themselves.
"The smart move for me and anyone else making predictions would be to just back City every week now, because eventually they will come good - but I've not seen anything to suggest it will happen here.
"The only thing they won last weekend was 'The Simulation Game' on 606 thanks to Kyle Walker's behaviour against Manchester United. I just hope he is all right to play this weekend.
"So, 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."
Sutton's prediction: Aston Villa 1-1 Man City
Mark Lawrenson
The former BBC Sport pundit told Paddy Power: Aston Villa got done at Nottingham Forest last weekend and Manchester City… it was just farcical.
"Where do you go with this game? I’m just going to come down on the side of Villa, it will be interesting to see when City can stop the rot.
"Too many players just keep making mistakes, you would have got good odds on them losing five all season, let alone before Christmas."
Lawrenson's prediction: Aston Villa 2-1 Man City
Paul Merson
The Sky Sports pundit told SportsKeeda: "When is it going to stop with Manchester City? Like, seriously. You know me, whenever I go with my weekly predictions, I don't usually bet against City. But now I look at this game and I just can't seem them winning!
"City have now lost too many games on the trot. They were 1-0 up against Manchester United with just 10 minutes left on the clock and ended up losing that game. That's just unbelievable, we have never ever seen them going through something like this.
"Pep Guardiola responded by saying he's not good enough, but I look at it as more of a tongue-in-cheek comment. He probably means, 'wait a minute, I won four league titles in a row, won the treble and now I lose a few games and you're all calling me bad?'
"In all honesty, this was always going to be the case. It's just how the game works. You can't keep winning all the time, other teams will eventually catch up with you. 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 manage to win this. It would be an unbelievable result for Villa on home turf."
Merson's prediction: Aston Villa 2-1 Manchester City
Harry Redknapp
The former Tottenham manager told Bet Victor: "What a game this could be! Aston Villa’s form of late hasn’t been disastrous but I don’t think they’re playing that well and they look a bit shaky at the back to me. Despite how bad Manchester City have been of late, they’re still above Villa in the table.
"I keep thinking this will be the week that City click into gear, but it just isn’t happening for them. The goals they concede have been so poor; they seem so easy to create chances against. Pep Guardiola doesn’t normally do a lot of business in January, but I think they’ll be busy this time around.
"I can’t see City going to Villa Park and keeping a clean sheet. I think they’ll just edge it though and get a vital win."
One to watch – Erling Haaland hasn’t been bad of late but he’s just not getting service. This week could be the week he gets the chances that we know he’ll put away.
Redknapp's prediction: Aston Villa 1-2 Manchester City
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