Premier League title race: Manchester City v. Aston Villa

With Manchester United having gained all three points yesterday against Liverpool, the onus is firmly on Manchester City to win at Villa Park and not lay another egg on the road as they did against Everton.

The atmosphere at Villa Park hasn't been the best of late, to say the least. Fans are protesting against Alex McLeish, Stephen Ireland and Charles N'Zogbia have been less than happy, and Villa are a couple of bad results away from perhaps having to look over their shoulders toward the relegation places. That this fixture is coming against the blue title hopefuls from Manchester probably doesn't bode well for the Villa faithful, and their poor home form (two points from their last five matches at Villa Park) will do nothing to instill any faith in the fans.

It's now that time of the season when every game is so magnified for title contenders, and Roberto Mancini knows that City can ill afford to lose focus as they did against Everton. With that in mind, I would expect City to come out and try to put their stamp on this game early. Samir Nasri and Vincent Kompany are again available, though Mario Balotelli's fireworks will still be missing as a result of him still serving his suspension for stomping on Scott Parker. That probably matter little today.