Manchester City vs Aston Villa prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2025-04-21 19:00.
[p]European ambitions are on the line when third-placed Manchester City welcome fellow UEFA Champions League aspirants Aston Villa. Third to sixth sit within touching distance of each other, so it seems that Pep Guardiola’s side have hit form at the perfect time, posting a six-match unbeaten run across all competitions (W4, D2), culminating in a 2-0 win away to Everton on Saturday. [/p]
[p]Few would bet against City continuing their hot streak at home, where they’ve won eight of their 11 games in 2025 (D1, L2), with only Liverpool and Real Madrid beating them at the Etihad this calendar year. A visit from Villa could be perfect in their quest to keep that up given that City have won the last 14 home league H2Hs, scoring at least twice in each of the last 13 meetings.[/p]
[p]Unai Emery didn’t let the disappointment of Champions League elimination keep his side down for long as they thrashed Newcastle 4-1 at the weekend to secure a fifth successive Premier League win. Continuing that trend here will be no small task for the Villans, who despite winning the reverse, haven’t won away to a fellow top-seven team yet this season (D1, L4).[/p]
[p]Having won their last three away league games, all without reply, Villa should travel confident of ending that rotten run against their fellow European challengers. Not since 2008/09 have Villa posted a 4+ game unbeaten away run in the Premier League, while never in history have they won four such games in a row without conceding, so there’s huge incentive here for Villa aside from simply chasing a top-four spot.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Mateo KovaÄŤić is set to make his 200th Premier League appearance here. After closing the scoring against Everton, the City man has netted more goals in 2024/25 (6) than he had in all six of his previous campaigns in the competition combined (5). Ollie Watkins put his side ahead inside the first minute on Saturday – he needs just one more goal to become Aston Villa’s outright top Premier League scorer.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Manchester City’s home league games have averaged a comfortable league-high 2.38 goals before half-time.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Matthew Billon[/i][/p]