Prediction & odds for the game: Manchester City (2/9) v Aston Villa (11/1) – ST is backing the home win

When: Wednesday, 20th January @ 6pm K.O

Where: Etihad Stadium

Manchester City will hope to continue their title push when they take on an Aston Villa side who finally return to action after their COVID-19 outbreak.

Manchester City

Manchester City are the team to watch in the title race because if they win their game in hand, they’ll be back at the top of the table. Pep Guardiola knows that and he’ll be issuing warnings to his squad against the threat of complacency in a season that has already thrown up more surprises than most would’ve anticipated. They finally seem to have a great structure through the heart of their squad, and that’s all you can really ask for.

City are unbeaten in 15 games in all competitions, and as you can probably imagine, they just seem to be going from strength to strength. Their Boxing Day win over Newcastle set them up for a really strong January up to this point, beating Chelsea, Manchester United, Birmingham, Brighton and Crystal Palace across three competitions – the Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup.

Aston Villa

Aston Villa seem to have reclaimed their spot as the kings of the West Midlands, and their aim now is to kick on and really challenge for those European places. Unfortunately the parade of games that they’ll have to endure as a result of their backlog will mean they’re going to have to dig deep to get some positive results, but Dean Smith knows the talent he has within his squad and he should be feeling confident about their ability to kick on.

Dominant wins over West Brom and Crystal Palace offered up reasons for positivity, as did the draw against Chelsea, but Villa have really struggled to build momentum due to their lack of game time. Plus, between a draw against Burnley and consecutive defeats to Manchester United and Liverpool, they aren’t immune to the odd slip-up either – even if the Reds defeat was a morale victory due to how their youngsters performed.

Conclusion

When you combine the fact that City are on fire right now with Villa’s inability to train due to their COVID-19 outbreak, it seems pretty reasonable to expect that the hosts will be the ones who run away with the victory. Alas, we don’t think it’s going to be as cut and dry as that, with Fulham’s short notice draw against Tottenham serving as a reminder that teams shouldn’t be underestimated, even if the worst possible circumstances. We do think Manchester City will win, but it’ll be close.

Our official scoreline prediction is going to be 2-1 Man City, ensuring we hit the over 2.5 goals marker.

Verdict: Back the home win at odds of 2/9 and the over 2.5 goals scored at odds of 4/9 (All odds are taken from bet365).

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If you want to bet on Man City vs Aston Villa then head on over to the betting page. Alternatively, you can check out some of the other available fixtures at the soccer predictions page as we continue through the journey of an incredibly unpredictable Premier League campaign.