Manchester City versus Aston Villa, a key matchup in the EPL tonight, the "blue moon" Manchester City has been on a strong rise in the last two rounds of the league, defeating Liverpool and Chelsea one after another, which triggered a lot of buzz. However, the spell of "weak when strong" seems to have struck again, as the team has lost its former power, especially the scorer Ainin Zaha, who was muted in the match, and the attacking power has been reduced drastically. In order to keep the top four position, Aston Villa qualified for next season's Europa League and cannot afford to lose this match. They are undefeated in the past five rounds of league matches, and they won this match with a two-goal advantage.
Manchester City can't afford to lose the remaining nine rounds of Premier League fixtures after falling three points behind table-topping Liverpool in the match against Arsenal, who also drew 0-0. However, the team's overall strength has slipped this season. Among them, striker Ainin Zaha's performance at Watt has been particularly sluggish, scoring only 18 goals in 24 rounds of league matches, with his scoring average dropping from 1.03 last season to 0.75, a drop of nearly 30%. Even including national team fixtures, he has failed to score in his last five matches.
To make matters worse, the center of the midfield, Chivan Dibny, was injured earlier, and although he is back, he has not fully recovered his form. The "Blue Moon" has problems with both players, and it seems to be even more difficult to break down Villa's door.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa's lineup, though unstable, performed well in this game. Under the leadership of renowned coach Emery, the team has been improving. Last December, they beat Manchester City and Arsenal by 1-0, showing Emeli's unique experience in coaching Spanish teams. In addition, Arsenal manager Adi Da's demonstration in the defensive end is obvious. Facing the "Blue Moon" offense, I believe Emili's teaching tactics will play a key role. Villa's last 5 rounds of away matches have resulted in 3 wins and 2 draws, with only one loss in the last 9 rounds of away matches, so the value of an away win is obvious.
