Manchester City will be looking to record their fifth win of the Premier League season when they face off against Aston Villa at Villa Park on Saturday evening.
Pep Guardiola's men thrashed Nottingham Forest 6-0 in midweek as Erling Haaland grabbed his second hat-trick of the new campaign, with Julian Alvarez also bagging a brace. Joao Cancelo scored the other goal for the home side on Wednesday night. The reigning champions have scored 19 goals already this season, conceding just five.
City's opponents have won just one game all campaign, but Guardiola anticipates a tougher game at Aston Villa because of their poor start to the season - suggesting he would rather they were making the journey to play a team in better form.
ALSO READ: How City should line up vs Aston Villa
Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake are both out injured for City, but new signing Manuel Akanji is not expected to feature against Steven Gerrard's side after arriving from Borussia Dortmund late in the transfer window. City begin their Champions League campaign on Tuesday night away at Sevilla, so Guardiola will be hoping to avoid any further injuries when his side come up against Villa.
MEN readers have been voting for the team they want to see Guardiola put out against Villa, and this was the most popular choice:
Predictably, fans have called for Brazilian shot-stopper Ederson to start in between the sticks. The 29-year-old, who has won three successive golden gloves, is eyeing a 95th Premier League clean sheet.
In defence, City's supporters want to see the same four players who started in the previous two victories over Forest and Crystal Palace. With Guardiola missing two centre-backs, and unlikely to risk his new signing, the back four should remain the same.
The fans are calling for a midfield trio of Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne, with the latter expected to return to the starting XI after being dropped to the substitutes bench in the midweek victory. The decision would see Ilkay Gundogan drop out of the starting line-up.
In attack, supporters are keen to see Haaland and Foden both start against Villa, with Riyad Mahrez returning to the starting XI after being on the bench against Forest. It would mean that Alvarez drops out, despite the Argentine scoring twice in midweek.
Starting line-up City's fans want to see vs Aston Villa: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Stones, Cancelo; Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne; Mahrez, Haaland, Foden.
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