Manchester City return to Premier League action, with a trip to Villa Park on Sunday to face Aston Villa, following contrasting results for the two teams in their midweek European action.
Pep Guardiola’s team are on a superb run of form, which they added to in the last week, with a Premier League win over Everton last weekend followed by a Champions League win against Villarreal in midweek. They are second in the table with 16 points to their name. Villa, meanwhile, will look for a performance to pick them up in front of their home crowd. A five-game winning run was snapped on Thursday night, as a ragged second-half performance in the Netherlands saw them lose a Europa League group stage tie against Go Ahead Eagles.
Erling Haaland‘s sensational form has shown no sign of stopping in the last week, as he followed up a brace against Everton with a goal against Villarreal in midweek as well. As it stands, Haaland is the top-scorer in the Premier League this season with 11 goals from eight matches.
Unai Emery’s team are 11th in the Premier League with 12 points from eight games. Last week in the Premier League, they impressively came from behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in North London, as their season began to gain serious momentum following an indifferent start. However, they now have to react to that defeat in the Europa League, and this is a tough test against one of the most potent strikers in the world, in Haaland, being in the form of his life.
Here is everything you need to know ahead of the match.
How to watch:
The match will be telecast on Sky Sports in the U.K. NBC/Peacock will telecast the match in the U.S., JioHotstar in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow ESPN’s live updates.
Key Details:
Date: Sunday, Oct. 26 at 2 p.m. GMT (10:00 a.m. ET; 7.30 p.m. IST, and 01:00 a.m. AEDT, Monday)
Venue: Villa Park, Birmingham
Referee: Michael Oliver
VAR: John Brooks
Team News:
Aston Villa
Youri Tielemans, M; calf, OUT, est. return late-Nov.
Manchester City
Rodri, M: hamstring, OUT, est.return early-Nov
Nico Gonzalez, M: foot, DOUBT
Abdukodir Khusanov, D: knock, DOUBT
Expected Lineups:
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1)
GK: Emiliano Martinez
RB: Matty Cash | CB: Ezri Konsa | CB: Pau Torres | LB: Lucas Digne
CM: Boubacar Kamara | CM: Amadou Onana
RW: Evann Guessand | AM: Morgan Rogers | LW: John McGinn
CF: Donyell Malen
Manchester City (4-1-4-1)
GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma
RB: Matheus Nunes | CB: Rúben Dias | CB: Josko Gvardiol | LB: Nathan Aké
DM: Rico Lewis
RW: Phil Foden | CM: Tijjani Reijnders | CM: Bernardo Silva | LW: Savinho
ST: Erling Haaland
Stats:
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Aston Villa have won their last two home league games against Manchester City.
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Manchester City have won more points in the Premier League than any other side since the start of April (39).
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Five of the last seven Premier League goals Aston Villa have conceded have come via set pieces.
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Man City have scored seven away Premier League goals in 2025-26, with Erling Haaland scoring five of those. Haaland has scored in all of City’s away games this season.
Latest news and analysis:
Man City win marred as Rodri replacement González limps off
Manchester City’s 2-0 away win over Villarreal in the Champions League on Tuesday proved to be bittersweet for Guardiola, who saw prolific striker Haaland score his 24th goal in 14 games for club and country this season, but also had holding midfielder Nico González limp off with an injury.
Haaland: ‘Flexibility’ key to ‘crazy goals’
The prolific Norwegian has plundered a remarkable 24 goals in just 14 appearances for club and country this season, and has struck in his last 12 outings.
Gvardiol nearly quit football for another sport
The Manchester City defender nearly made the career-altering choice when he played for Dinamo Zagreb. Gvardiol, then aged 16, wasn’t progressing into Zagreb’s first-team so looked elsewhere for a possible career in professional sports.
Emery rues latest pen miss after shock loss
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery said his side have to become more clinical from the penalty spot after a shock Europa League defeat to Dutch minnows Go Ahead Eagles.
Aston Villa working on new deals for Rogers, Cash, McGinn
All three have been a key part of Villa’s rise under Emery over the last couple of years, which culminated in them reaching the Champions League quarterfinals last season.
