ASTON VILLA vs MANCHESTER CITY - MATCH PREVIEW

By Ryan Ghee
October 31 2005

Aston Villa will be hoping to bounce back from last week's defeat against Wigan when they play Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium tonight. Meanwhile, a win for Stuart Pearce's team would see them move into the top four of the Premiership table.

Aston Villa team news: Milan Baros is still out of action with an achilles injury so Angel and Phillips are expected to start in attack. Wilfred Bouma and Lee Hendrie will join Baros on the sidelines while Aaron Hughes faces a late fitness test.

Manchester City team news: Former Villa striker Darius Vassell is expected to start against his old club but fellow striker Andy Cole could face a late fitness test. If Cole is unable to play, Robbie Fowler will line-up alongside Vassell on the front line. Claudio Reyna, Richard Dunne, Trevor Sinclair and Nedum Onouha are all out injured so Lee Croft is expected to make his first Premiership start of the season.

History of this fixture: Aston Villa and Manchester City have met each other on 142 separate occasions with Villa winning 52 of the games, City winning 53, and 37 of the meetings ending all square. However, The Villans haven't beaten their opponents since August 2002 and last season, Manchester City defeated Villa in both League meetings.

Match betting: Aston Villa win - 10/3
Manchester City win - 8/11
Draw - 11/5