Aston Villa v Manchester City: Where to Watch, Preview and Team News

Manchester City travel to Villa Park to take on Aston Villa as the Citizens look to put the seal on their recent promising form with a first Premier League away win.

Where to Watch

Kick-off is set for 3pm BST. Highlights of the game will be available on BBC Match of the Day from 10:30pm BST on BBC One.

Overview

Aston Villa will be downcast following their 4-0 home drubbing by Tottenham in the third round of the Capital One Cup but manager Paul Lambert will be hoping that his side are able to put aside their disappointments and give a proper game to the Premier League contenders. The Villans returned to winning ways in the league with a 1-0 win over Norwich City last weekend and will be looking to extend that run. Their previous win came in a shock 3-1 triumph over Arsenal at the Emirates on the opening day of the season and Lambert will be confident that his team can upset the big boys yet again here at Villa Park.

However, the absence of Christian Benteke will be a huge loss for Lambert. The striker is out for six to eight weeks with a hip flexor injury. Libor Kozak is likely to lead the line in the Belgian's absence, with the player giving a good account of himself by scoring the winning goal last weekend.

Manchester City will be playing their third game in six days and will be happy with the results so far. Their week started with a 4-1 thrashing of arch rivals Manchester United where Sergio Aguero scored a brace followed by goals from Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri, to take them three points clear of the defending Champions and two points behind Arsenal on top. The win was capped with a resounding performance against Wigan in the third round of the Capital one Cup, where a team with 10 changes from the weekend won 5-0.

What the Managers Say

Paul Lambert: "You should have a good solid base at home, but we seem to be doing it the other way around at the moment, winning away from home, and finding it hard at home. I don't know why that is. It's strange."

Manuel Pellegrini: "Agüero finished the last derby in the last play with a small pain, I think it was nothing important but I think it was a risk for him to play three games in the same week."