Aston Villa face Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday, and Unai Emery has delivered our latest team news for the clash.
After our disappointing defeat to Nottingham Forest last time out, Villa will look to bounce back against Pep Guardiola’s struggling side, as we try to repeat our brilliant effort against City in our win over them at Villa Park last season.
READ MORE: Five key talking points as Villa collapse late to fall to Nottingham Forest defeat
Despite their poor form so far in this campaign, it will still be a difficult challenge, and so it’s hoped that Villa can produce a solid performance to try and put more pressure on the visitors.
There was good news this week as Emery provided an update on both Tyrone Mings and Leon Bailey, with the former being ruled out last week due to illness, while Bailey has been sidelined by a muscle injury. The Villa boss also gave an update on Jacob Ramsey’s recovery, and it sounds promising as we look to get back to having a full-strength squad in the coming weeks.
“[Tyrone] Mings and [Leon] Bailey are in the squad tomorrow,” Emery told the media at his pre-match press conference. “Not Jacob Ramsey because he is still progressing well, but he is not yet available. He is close to starting training with us.”
Mings will give us a strong defensive option when needed as he rotates with Pau Torres in that left-sided centre-half role, while it’s possible the pair could eventually both play alongside each other.
As for Bailey, although he hasn’t hit top form so far this season, he is an important cog in how we play with his ability down that right flank, and so restoring that balance to our attack could be crucial.
It’s a similar story for Ramsey when he’s deployed on the opposite side, and so hopefully he can resume group training soon and get back to playing regularly in order to try and rediscover his best form too.
City’s visit starts a difficult run of games for Villa over the Christmas period with Newcastle Utd and Brighton to follow, but it’s a big occasion and stage for us to get back on track and hopefully secure three huge points.
