Aston Villa predicted line-up vs. Man City: major change made as £16m star drops out

Aston Villa face the unenviable task of a trip to Manchester City on Wednesday evening. The Villans are still the last side to have beaten the defending the Premier League champions, way back in early December, and will be hoping to record a similarly eye-catching result at the Etihad as they look to maintain their slender advantage over Tottenham Hotspur in the race for Champions League qualification.

A 2-0 win over Wolves at the weekend left Unai Emery's men fourth in the table, three points clear of Spurs, but having played one game more than Ange Postecoglou's side. This week, Tottenham will play West Ham on Tuesday evening.

For their part, Man City drew 0-0 against title rivals Arsenal on Sunday, and now find themselves three points adrift of league leaders Liverpool with nine games left to play. Pep Guardiola and his side will be fully aware that anything other than a win over Villa could have disastrous repercussions for their hopes of retaining their top flight crown.

But how will both sides line up in Manchester on Wednesday night? We've taken a closer look at their respective team news, as well as their prospective starting XIs, below...

Aston Villa Team News

Aston Villa head into the new week with their fair share of injury absences to consider. The Villans are still missing a number of key long term absentees, with the likes of Tyrone Mings and Emi Buendia ruled out for the remainder of the campaign. Discussing the duo recently, Emery said: 'All the season they are going to be out - Tyrone and Emi. Hopefully, they can come back to [team training] at the end of the season and start [2024/25] being completely fine to play like they were before.' Similarly, Boubacar Kamara is expected to be out for the foreseeable future with a knee injury.

Elsewhere, full-back Matty Cash returned from the international break with a thigh problem, and may be out until late April as a consequence. Speaking about the Poland defender, Emery said: 'Bad news with Matty. After playing with his national team, he came back with a small injury. For Saturday, he is not available - maybe two or three weeks more.'

Villa's only other confirmed absence is John McGinn, who is still serving a suspension following his recent sending off against Tottenham, but Jacob Ramsey could be back in contention to feature following an ankle injury.

Aston Villa Predicted XI

Emi Martinez; Ezri Konsa, Diego Carlos, Pau Torres, Alex Moreno; Leon Bailey, Youri Tielemans, Douglas Luiz, Jacob Ramsey; Moussa Diaby, Ollie Watkins.

Man City Team News

By comparison, Man City have relatively few injury issues to worry about. England defender Kyle Walker is expected to miss out due to a thigh complaint, with Guardiola stating recently: 'With Kyle Walker, we are not sure. He was feeling some tightness, and it was something we couldn't take a chance on.'

Elsewhere, goalkeeper Ederson could be in line to make his return following a stint on the sidelines, with the Brazilian currently recovering from a thigh injury of his own. That aside, City boast a clean bill of health.

Man City Predicted XI

Ederson; Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Nathan Ake; Rodri, Kevin de Bruyne, Bernardo Silva; Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku.