Aston Villa vs. Man City: Unai Emery’s side ‘don’t play uniquely anymore’ and Pep Guardiola has "got wise to it”

Manchester City’s current squad is “more suited to handle” the threat posed by an Aston Villa outfit who were the “archetypal side built to disrupt” the Citizens in recent years, Esteemed Kompany’s Steven McInerney has told Sports Mole.

Pep Guardiola’s men travel to Villa Park for their latest Premier League fixture on Sunday in buoyant mood, after putting together a nine-game unbeaten run across all competitions, winning each of their last three top-flight matches as well as securing a 2-0 Champions League win at Villarreal on Tuesday.

As for Unai Emery’s side, they have also won each of their last three league games, including a 2-1 success at Tottenham last weekend, but their five-match winning streak in all competitions was surprisingly ended by Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League on Thursday, losing 2-1 in the Netherlands.

Sitting second in the Premier League table and three points behind leaders Arsenal, Man City have had no problems getting the better of Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium, as they have won each of their last 15 home league meetings, but the Citizens have struggled in recent visits to Villa Park.

Indeed, City have failed to win any of their last three away games against Villa (D1 L2), who memorably played Guardiola’s side off the park in a dominant 1-0 victory in December 2023 before securing a 2-1 win in their most recent home clash in December 2024.

Man City were in the midst of a crisis when they were last beaten at Villa Park, with Guardiola’s injury-plagued and Rodri-less team bereft of confidence and severely lacking the legs to compete with an energetic Villa side in midfield.

What have Man City lacked in previous visits to Villa Park?

However, McInerney believes that Man City’s current crop of players are “showing signs of progression” this season and he expects the Citizens to put up a much greater fight when the two teams lock horns this weekend.

Sharing his thoughts on why City have struggled at Villa Park in recent years, McInerney told Sports Mole: “Energy levels and physicality. As City got older, Villa were the sort of antithesis of them.

“City were slow, methodical, a little bit older, a little bit weak if I'm being honest, and City have changed so aggressively. They're a lot more physical now, a lot more transitional and a lot more direct with powerful running and the pressings coming back. I think it's entirely down to that.

“Villa have been so aggressive under Unai Emery. Lots of big, strong runners. The Villa fans, of course, are always up for it at their ground as well. The atmosphere is absolutely cracking and I think they just enjoy playing City.

“There probably is a slight [Jack] Grealish factor to it. A lot of Villa fans did not like City after the Grealish saga because they took it as a personal slight that we wanted to sign one of their players - that's just how football works, let's get on with it.

“But either way, there was a slight edge to it that was unmistakably there. That, of course, won't be there now given that Grealish (on loan at Everton) is no longer involved.

“I think Villa were just the sort of archetypal side built to disrupt Manchester City, who had lost a little bit of their nuance, they’d slowed down a little bit, maybe weren't quite as cute as they used to be on the ball, the pace was not there as the players got older with the legs of Bernardo Silva, [Kevin] De Bruyne, [Ilkay] Gundogan and so on.”

Man City have “got wise” to Villa’s style and they are “more suited to handle it”

McInerney is more optimistic ahead of Sunday's trip, though, adding: “I expect this City side to be more suited to handle it and we are showing signs of progression overall.

“We've seen last season where so many sides also caught up to Villa's level of running as well. We saw Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Brentford and everyone just runs more, everyone does these days. I think you have to adapt to that and City have done so.

“I think this could be the one where we get the result that we need because I don't think Villa play uniquely anymore. They're effective, but it's been done in the Premier League a lot now and I think City have sort of got wise to it.”

McInerney continued: “[City have] got the physicality of [Josko] Gvardiol, [Ruben] Dias, [Nico] O'Reilly - and by the way, O'Reilly will definitely start this one (at left-back). With the pace and power of Villa, you don't start [Rayan] Ait-Nouri who’s just come back from injury, you play O'Reilly, he deserves it.

“And then I think you go aggressive with the midfield, get them all to just run, work really hard and I think we'll be okay. Villa are a cracking side, they're getting better as well, their form is good and they're showing signs of who they are, but they're not dominating games as such. There are moments of quality, but they’re not necessarily controlling games.

“They're fine with that because of their pace on the counter-attack and their overall endeavour as a side, but I think City will probably slow the game down a lot more than their recent victories they've been involved in, and I'm expecting another City win actually. I think this run of results we're in right now is really encouraging.”

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