City trail PL leaders Arsenal by six points after the Gunners' draw on Saturday.
There’s also an enormous charge sheet of around 100 Financial Fair Play breaches from the PL hanging over them which only serves to compound their misery.
Off-field turmoil and on-field struggles seem to be getting to City boss Pep Guardiola, who oddly stated travelling to London is “exhausting” after his side slumped to a 1-0 defeat away to Tottenham last time out, thus missing the chance to shorten the gap on Arsenal.
Guardiola will have no such excuses as City return to the Etihad Stadium for his 250th PL game in charge (W183, D32, L34), where they’ll seek to extend a 12-match winning home run in PL H2Hs against Aston Villa.
A 4-2 home defeat against struggling Leicester City swiftly ended Aston Villa’s four-match PL resurgence (W3, D1), and with Arsenal to come after this clash against City, Villa can be thankful for that impressive earlier run which put daylight between themselves and the drop zone.
That game did at least show Emery where his side could improve, but he will be acutely aware Villa cannot make “big mistakes” as they did in the Leicester game now that they face a PL juggernaut.
It’s games such as these where Villa have notoriously struggled down the years though, winning just one of their last 29 away league games against reigning top-flight champions (D6, L22).
That sole win did come in this very city when Villa beat Manchester United 1-0 back in 2009, and considering Villa have won each of their three away league games under the guidance of Emery, they may be quietly confident they can heap more misery upon City.
Players to watch: City’s Riyad Mahrez has netted the decisive goal during a victory in four of his last five scoring appearances. Villa may look to Ollie Watkins to be their game-winner, with the frontman going in search of a third successive PL scoring appearance for the first time ever.
Hot streak: An Emery-managed team has never beaten a side led by Pep Guardiola (D4, L8).
