[size=20pt]Aston Villa Vs Manchester City[/size]

Date: Sat 4 Oct 2014,
Venue: Villa Park
Time 5:30PM

Match Preview

Paul Lambert hopes he will be able
to include Christian Benteke in
Aston Villa's squad for their
Barclays Premier League match
with Manchester City.

The Belgium forward, who boasts
29 goals from 60 appearances in
England's top flight, has not
featured for Villa since the end of
March due to a torn Achilles
tendon.

Benteke's injury, which he sustained during a training session, kept him out of the remainder of the 2013/14 campaign, as well as the FIFA World Cup in Brazil where Belgium reached the quarter-finals.

However, he returned to action in the Barclays Under-21 Premier League on
Monday and found the net in a 3-0
win over Bolton Wanderers, before
being withdrawn shortly after the
hour mark.

Lambert has confirmed that a final
check on Benteke's fitness will be
made on Friday, while captain Ron
Vlaar is a doubt for Saturday's
match at Villa Park with a calf
problem.

"If everything goes okay and he feels okay, then I will put Christian in the squad," Villa's manager said.
"He's come through the last few weeks
unscathed.

We will see how he is but my intention is that he'll be in the squad. "First and foremost, his leg is better - his Achilles is OK.

He has no ill effects on it whatsoever. He came through the U21s pretty good
and trained for the rest of the week."

Villa won last term's corresponding fixture 3-2 with Andreas Weimann scoring the decisive goal, and the Austria forward is hoping for a repeat
showing this time around.

"That win last season at Villa Park
was a fantastic moment in the
season," Weimann said.

"We were clinical on the day, we took our chances and we were rewarded
with a great win.

"It was a really good afternoon and it would be great to experience that feeling again."

Villa's strong start to the season
has been undermined by back-to-
back 3-0 defeats against Arsenal
and Chelsea in their previous two
outings.

Defending champions City, meanwhile, have yet to hit the heights of the previous campaign, with midfielder Yaya Toure yet to capture the form of 2013/14 when he scored 20 BPL goals.

Captain Vincent Kompany has jumped to the defence of his team- mate, but City will be desperate to get the most out of the Ivory Coast midfielder as they seek to avoid falling too far behind leaders Chelsea.

After six matches, City trail Jose Mourinho's men by five points. With Chelsea due to play Arsenal on Sunday, a win over Villa would allow Manuel Pellegrini's side to place a degree of extra pressure on their rivals ahead of the London derby at
Stamford Bridge.

City, who drew 1-1 with Roma in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, continue to be without Samir Nasri (groin), while Stevan Jovetic (hamstring) and Fernando (groin) remain doubtful.

Stats

Villa striker Andreas Weimann has
made more sprints than any other
forward this term (372).

I see Man City crashing down

Match Appointments
Referee: Chris Foy
Assistants: H Lennard, R West
Fourth Official: C Pawson

[size=20pt]HIT LIKE IF YOU THINK ASTON VILLA WILL WIN[/size]

[size=20pt]HIT LIKE IF YOU THINK MANCHESTER CITY WILL WIN[/size]

[size=20pt]HIT LIKE IF YOU THINK THE MATCH WILL END DRAW[/size]

Front page Mod

Tag: mukina2, obinoscopy, seun
i think there is no more sport on NL again