Ahead to Manchester City at Villa Park and match facts from the BBC

Go Ahead Eagles are currently twelfth in the Eredivisie and I think it's fair to say that Thursday night was possibly the biggest match of their season and it's hard to play against sides that like. And it didn't play out as we would have hoped.

But we can't expect results and as we've all seen countless times as followers of football and supporters of Aston Villa, just because a side is expected to win doesn't mean they do. Pick three teams this weekend you think are going to win, put some money on it and see what happens. You might be fortunate, but you wont be for every three games you pick.

So, we take the result on Thursday, on the chin and we move on. This Sunday, we have Manchester City coming to Villa Park and they're starting to look a little like the old Manchester City. It should be fun.

And we want them at their best because that is usually when we beat them.

And I'm going back to it, but we have to move on from Thursday and focus on Sunday. It's the only thing that matters and three points on Sunday takes us to fifteen points, one behind them and they are still a team that many think can win the League this season. 

So, that's it. We move on and look ahead to Sunday. Manchester City are a very good side and they'll come at us and that I think is how we will see the best of this weekend because we have it us, we're at home and we know how to do this.

Match facts from the BBC

• Aston Villa have won their last two home league games against Manchester City, last winning more consecutively between 1960 and 1975 (5).

• Man City have won 31 games and scored 101 goals against Aston Villa in the Premier League – only against Newcastle (32 wins, 106 goals) have they done so more.

• After a five game winless start in the Premier League this season (D3 L2), Aston Villa have since won each of their last three games. The only team in top-flight history to have a five game winless start then win their next four games are Preston in 1936-37.

• Manchester City have won more points in the Premier League than any other side since the start of April (39 – W12 D3 L2). They’ve only conceded the first goal in two games in that time, while they’ve opened the scoring in their last six games, their best run since a run of eight between April and August 2024.

• Aston Villa have won their last two Premier League games when they’ve conceded the first goal, beating Fulham 3-1 and Spurs 2-1. Since Unai Emery’s first game with the Villans in November 2022, only Pep Guardiola (14) has more wins after conceding first than Emery (11).

• Since their 5-1 defeat at Arsenal in February, Manchester City have kept more clean sheets in the Premier League than any other side (12), while only the Gunners can match City for goals conceded per game (both 15 in 22 games, 0.68).

• Five of the last seven Premier League goals Aston Villa have conceded have come via set pieces (1x penalty, 1x throw, 3x corners), conceding from a corner in each of their last three games. The last side to concede from a corner in four games in a row were Newcastle in April/May 2024, while Villa last did so in November/December 2010.

• No player in the Premier League this season has more goals and assists combined as a substitute than Aston Villa’s Emiliano Buendía (2 goals, 1 assist). The Argentinian is looking to score in consecutive Premier League appearances for the very first time.

• Erling Haaland has scored in each of his last five away Premier League appearances for Manchester City. The only player to score in more consecutive away games for City is Sergio Agüero between March and August 2017 (7 in a row).

• Man City have scored seven away Premier League goals in 2025-26, with Erling Haaland scoring five of those, netting in all four away games. The only players to score in their team’s first five away matches of a season are Thierry Henry in 2001-02 for Arsenal, Mohamed Salah in 2021-22 for Liverpool and Jarrod Bowen in 2023-24 for West Ham.