Aston Villa threw away their winning point on Thursday by losing 2-1 to Go Ahead Eagles in the competitive phase of the Europa League.
Villa can still keep one positive streak intact with a win on Sunday. They won their previous three games in the Premier League and welcome Manchester City to Villa Park for an early kick-off.
Unai Emery must be frustrated by what he saw in the Netherlands midweek. He will take his own share of responsibility, but I would be surprised if there were any specific regrets. He needs to use Villa’s squad to play multiple competitions and the match against Go Ahead Eagles was ripe for changes.
Villa’s aim and expectation was to win that match. Their failure to do so is ultimately something Emery will have to bear, but the team he sent out should have been enough to get the job done.
Managing the staff to navigate the match list is fine. That is not complacency. Villa got the bloody nose they deserved. It might not yet have any impact on their progress in the Europa League, but fans are expecting a response on Sunday.
The reanimated target robot
Not to be alarmist, but Erling Haaland has scored 11 goals in 683 minutes of Premier League football this season. He has four goals in three games in the Champions League and nine goals in three for Norway.
That’s 24 goals this season. Twenty. Four.
Last season’s Premier League tally of 22 goals was Haaland’s lowest since moving to England, the kind of dip most human footballers would happily accept.
City were not at their best last season and one of the causes or consequences of that was that teams could fear Haaland in a normal way, as if he were a really good Premier League striker rather than some kind of goal-thirsty alien.
Villa’s defense has generally been quite good this season, but there is no other test like it. Ezri Konsa and Pau Torres will have to perform brilliantly to keep him at bay, and they will need some help too.
It has actually been a while since the Norwegian scored against Villa. Emery and his players won’t be complacent here, that’s for sure.
Villa team news
Tyrone Mings and Jadon Sancho will be available after their return to action against Go Ahead Eagles. Ross Barkley, the player left out of the Europa League squad, is also back in the mix as Villa return to domestic football.
There is doubt about the availability of Lucas Digne. The left back suffered a nasty cut in the ankle in Villa’s victory against Spurs and was unable to play in the Netherlands on Thursday.
Youri Tielemans will be absent until after the next international match. Right back Andrés García is also injured.
Villa predicted line-up against Man City
It is very difficult to guess what Emery will do in this situation. Villa were terrible on Thursday, but we can only assume that the players who came into the team from the touchline will not have made much of an impression on the manager.
The chances that Mings would dethrone Torres on Sunday were already slim and nothing about the match in Deventer will have increased them. Ian Maatsen will be back on the bench if Digne can play. Morgan Rogers and Boubacar Kamara will undoubtedly start after being rested.
My expectation in general is that Emery will look at the strength of the opposition and pick both the best and strongest team available to him.
I think he wants to include Kamara, Amadou Onana and John McGinn all together, although the combination of Evann Guessand and Matty Cash on the right could appeal.
If the manager has gone in that direction, he will also be looking for a spark. Call me crazy, but Emery doesn’t mind surprising us. Sancho is my wildcard bet this weekend.
Where can you watch Villa v Man City?
Villa’s home match against Manchester City will be broadcast live Sky Sports main event And Sky Sports+ in Great Britain.
Read more ➡️ Watch Aston Villa v Manchester City: start time, TV channels and streams
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