Last week Manchester City finished their performances in the group stage of the Champions League, where they lost in the last round to RB Leipzig (1:2), which did not affect the results in the group in any way. The Mancunians reached the playoffs of the main club tournament in Europe together with PSG. In home tournaments the team had a bad start. At the start of the season, the “heavenly” missed the English Super Cup, losing the trophy to Leicester, after which they left the League Cup, kindly letting West Ham go to the next stage. In the Championship of England, Pep Guardiola’s charges have 12 victories and two peaceful outcomes, which brought them 38 points and the first position in the standings. It is impossible not to note the best indicator of the team in the league in terms of the quality of defense, which conceded only nine times. In the last three rounds the Citizens took turns defeating Aston Villa (2:1), Watford (3:1) and Wolverhampton (1:0). Mendy, Torres and Delap, who has an ankle injury, will not play tonight.
Aston Villa are performing well this season, but the team was not lucky in the League Cup. At the first stage the team got into rivals “Chelsea”, which left no chances for Birmingham in the 11-meter series. In the English Championship the Lions have six wins and one draw after 16 rounds, which brought them 19 points and 13th place in the table. After the victory over Leicester (2:1) the guests could not oppose anything to Liverpool (0:1). Bailey and Traore, who has a thigh injury, will not be able to play today.