How Man City should line up against Aston Villa in Premier League fixture

Manchester City travel to Birmingham to take on Aston Villa in the Premier League on Wednesday evening

Manchester City return to Premier League action on Wednesday evening as they travel to high-flying Aston Villa.

The Blues are without a win in their last three league matches, and as a result they’ve dropped to third place in the table behind Arsenal and Liverpool. Villa sit just behind City in the standings after an excellent start to the season under manager Unai Emery.

In addition to Rodri and Grealish’s unavailability, Guardiola announced that John Stones is fit and ready to play after his injury layoff. City is also waiting to see if Jeremy Doku recovers from a knock he took in the Spurs match.

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Guardiola says John Stones is ready and he feels like the most obvious solution to not having Rodri. Having moved alongside him and played in that position when Rodri was rested against Young Boys last month (only to then get injured), having Stones back will alleviate the issue of not having Jack Grealish.

The hope for Guardiola and for everyone picking a team is that Jeremy Doku is fit to start to take the place on the left wing. If he is, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and Julian Alvarez can complete the same front line that was used from the start against Tottenham.

Nathan Ake has been excellent of late and should come into the team after not playing at the weekend. Manu Akanji and Ruben Dias have both had their issues, although avoiding too many changes at the back could be beneficial.

Isaac Johnson With all the absences, it would not be surprising if Guardiola named a very different starting lineup for this match. However, with all of the excuses out of the way, it might make sense to play a 4-2-3-1 formation, considering how badly City fared the last time Rodri was suspended.

With several breakaway goals coming down the left when the Croat has been present, Nathan Ake might replace Josko Gvardiol. With Manuel Akanji’s backing, John Stones might return to his new hybrid midfield position.

With Phil Foden on the left to replace the suspended Grealish and the questionable Doku, Mateo Kovacic might serve as the liaison between the midfield and the attack. Although Julian Alvarez hasn’t played at his best lately, his performance against Arsenal on the right makes that alternative null and useless.

Liam Wood
The unfortunate duty of replacing Rodri falls to someone, and as City recently discovered, there isn’t a person who can do it like-for-like. In that regard, John Stones’s comeback is a great boost for their hybrid position, and Kalvin Phillips, his England colleague, need to be considered alongside him.