McAtee and Kovacic return for Premier League clash with Aston Villa | OneFootball

City have made two changes for the visit of Aston Villa with James McAtee and Mateo Kovacic coming back into the side.

Nico and Savinho move to the bench for a crucial match at the Etihad Stadium as we chase a Champions League spot for next season.

Former Academy player McAtee made his first Premier League start for the Blues in our 5-2 win over Crystal Palace in our last home match, scoring our fourth goal.

Meanwhile, Kovacic was also on target against the Eagles and scored a late second in our 2-0 over Everton at the weekend.

Ederson, John Stones, Nathan Ake, Erling Haaland, Oscar Bobb and Rodri are still working their way back to match fitness.

TEAMS

CITY XI: Ortega, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Kovacic, Gundogan, De Bruyne (C), McAtee, Bernardo, Marmoush.

Subs: Carson, Grealish, Doku, Nico, Akanji, Savinho, Khusanov, Foden, Lewis.

VILLA: Martinez (C), Cash, Torres, Konsa, Digne, Kamara, Onana, Tielemans, Ramsey, Rogers, Rashford

Subs: Olsen, Asensio, Barkley Disasi Andrés García, Maatsen, Malen, McGinn, Watkins

HOW WE LINE-UP

With Ederson out injured, Stefan Ortega Moreno takes the gloves behind an unchanged back-four of Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Nico O'Reilly.

Kovacic will come into the midfield alongside captain Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan.

But it will be a fluid formation with Bernardo Silva and McAtee likely to play high and wide to help stretch Villa.

Once again, Omar Marmoush leads the line hoping to add his record of six goals in his six home Premier League appearances.

Gunning for points

Ilkay Gundogan is a natural born winner and has been in top form in recent weeks as we chase a top-five finish and a return to the FA Cup final.

The German was again in creative mood at Goodison Park as he dictated the play against Everton and helped City stay patience as we secured a vital three points with a 2-0 win and teed up Mateo Kovacic for our second.

Gundogan is synonymous with a title-winning double against Villa on the last day of the 2022/23 season, and it’s another big clash against the West Midlands side tonight.

“We need to stay on top of our game for the rest of the season because we definitely need to qualify for the Champions League,” he said ahead of tonight’s game.

Race for the Champions League

Nottingham Forest’s 2-1 win at Tottenham on Monday night has made the battle for Europe even more intense with tonight’s sides firmly in the mix.

Just three points separate Nuno Espirito Santo’s side in third place and Aston Villa in seventh with five games of the season remaining.

With Liverpool and Arsenal almost certain to be in next season’s Champions League, five teams are battling over the remaining three positions – with the Premier League give a fifth side in the competition.

Newcastle and Chelsea are also in the equation and there is some big matches featuring two of the quintet before the season ends.

That starts tonight where three points for either side would see them a take huge leap towards qualification.

City are the only side to have been in Europe’s top competition for the past 14 seasons and the players are determined to get back there again.

Key match stats

City have won our last 14 Premier League home games against Aston Villa, scoring at least twice in each of the last 13. Our last defeat was in April 2007 under Stuart Pearce.

Villa have won two of their last three league games against City, as many as in their previous 23 and are looking to complete a first league double over us since 1962/63.

Across 14 consecutive home Premier League wins against Aston Villa, City have trailed in just two games, going 1-0 down in May 2010 and 2-0 down in May 2022 before winning 3-1 and 3-2 respectively. In Premier League history, only City against Newcastle United (an ongoing run of 16) have won more consecutive home games against an opponent.

We have conceded 21 home Premier League goals this season, the most in a season since the 2015/16 campaign (also 21). We last conceded more at home in a season back in 2003/04 (24).

Villa have won their last three away Premier League matches, keeping a clean sheet in each. Their last longer away winning run was between November and February in 2008/09 (7), while they’ve never won four in a row without conceding in the top-flight.

Pep Guardiola’s side have won each of our last nine home Premier League matches in April by an aggregate score of 35-8. The last side to beat City at the Etihad in this month was Leeds United in a 2-1 win in 2021.

Villa have won each of their last two away Premier League games 3-0, beating Brighton and Southampton. That’s as many three-goal away wins as they’d had in their previous 84 away games combined. They’ve never achieved this in three away top-flight games in a row.

City have scored 36 goals in 11 home games in all competitions in 2025, scoring two or more goals in 10 out of 11 games. Their goals per game average of 3.27 is their fourth best in a calendar year, behind 1898 (3.31, 53 in 16), 1895 (3.29, 46 in 14) and 2019 (3.29, 92 in 28).

Omar Marmoush has scored six goals in his six home Premier League appearances for City so far, scoring every 81 minutes, while across his last 17 home league appearances, including his time with Eintracht Frankfurt, he has 14 goals and six assists.

Ollie Watkins has had a hand in 48 away Premier League goals in 88 appearances (34 goals, 14 assists), including five in his last seven (4 goals, 1 assist). Only Gabriel Agbonlahor has reached 50+ goals and assists away from home for Villa (40 goals, 19 assists).