Frank Lampard is 'worried' after his fifth defeat in eight Premier League games as Chelsea manager. I don't think he needs to be worried, I mean he's Frank the Bank. I think what Frank should do is go manage a League Two side without any loan players from Chelsea. Then he will have reason to be worried.
I appreciate it's only a matter of time before Frank is sacked. And we shouldn't forget that he's so much better than us and he's proven. He's proven himself by managing Derby. He's proven himself by playing in the Premier League. He's proven himself because he was managed by Mourinho.
He doesn't need to prove himself and he deserves a chance to manage in the Premier League ahead of all of those other hard working managers. And you know what, his experience at Derby might have been all he needed to take the Premier League by storm. I mean, how difficult can it be to manage a Premier League side? We've all played Championship manager, right.
I'm writing about Frank, tongue in cheek, because I need to publish my protest in ex players getting jobs instead of others. I can see some logic in it, but for Frank to think he is better than us and that he doesn't need to prove himself in League Two is why he never will be a decent Premier League manager and why he'll always do well at the beginning, but when the real work starts, he'll always fail.
But all that aside, it really should be about Aston Villa and Manchester City.
And Chelsea lost to Leicester last night. If we win our four games, we would go ahead of them in the League. Leicester are top, but we could be. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather the points than games in hand and I'm not saying we will win all four games, but I'm saying there is a chance.
But there is also a chance we lose all games and it could all begin against Manchester City tonight, because they are looking good at the moment and they're controlling games the way they used to. And there is no shame in losing tonight. But we're not expecting it.
I mean, if we lose, we will essentially just accept it. But we want to see our team have a go. If we see the eleven have a go, we'll basically be happy. If we see the team not have a go, we'll also accept it, but we'd be surprised. We'd be surprised because this season we've seen the team playing the right way and we haven't always seen that.
And tonight is an opportunity that we have created for ourselves. It's not just a random match. It's part of all of our work this season. We understand that and we take the opportunity or we don't. If we take it, it will make the next one easier and take us one step closer. A win tonight puts us ahead of Chelsea with three games in hand and that would be good for us and not good for Frank.
Match facts from the BBC
Head-to-head
- Manchester City have won 14 of their past 15 home league games against Aston Villa, including the last 10 by an aggregate score of 33-4.
- Aston Villa are winless in nine meetings in all competitions, drawing once and losing eight.
- Villa's most recent league win at the Etihad Stadium was 2-0 in April 2007.
Manchester City
- Manchester City are on a 15-match unbeaten run in all competitions and have won their past eight fixtures.
- City have taken 23 points from the last 27 available to them and are on a five-match league winning streak.
- They have conceded just three goals in 22 hours and 55 minutes during that period.
- Pep Guardiola's side have kept six clean sheets in nine home fixtures so far in 2020-21.
- Manchester City have only lost one of their past 22 home games in all competitions, winning 19 and drawing two.
- City have conceded only once in the 10 matches John Stones and Ruben Dias have played together at centre-back.
- Ilkay Gundogan has scored four goals in his past six league appearances.
Aston Villa
- Villa can win more than eight of their opening 16 fixtures of a top-flight campaign for the first time since 1989-90.
- They have won five of their eight away league matches, drawing once and losing twice.
- The five away goals they have conceded is the fewest in the division.
- Dean Smith's side have won two of their three fixtures this season against clubs currently in the top four.
- The Villans need one more league victory to equal the nine they achieved throughout the whole of last season.
- Ollie Watkins has gone eight games without a goal. He scored eight times in his first 10 Aston Villa appearances.
- Jack Grealish has contributed to 12 goals in 15 league matches this season, scoring five and setting up seven.