Man City predicted lineup vs Aston Villa - Premier League | OneFootball

Manchester City hope to continue their Champions League qualification momentum when they entertain fellow FA Cup semi-finalists Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium.

City picked up an important 2-0 win over Everton on Saturday, courtesy of late goals from Nico O'Reilly and Mateo Kovacic, but must have their heads screwed on again against a side who pushed PSG to the wire and took Newcastle United apart in the space of four days.

Pep Guardiola is still missing a number of key players due to injury, including Erling Haaland, Ederson and last year's Ballon d'Or winner Rodri, and may implement some of his famed rotation in order to give City the best possible chance of making the FA Cup final.

Here's how the current Premier League champions could line up.

Man City predicted lineup vs Aston Villa (4-2-3-1)

Stefan Ortega continues between the sticks with Ederson sidelined / James Gill - Danehouse/GettyImages

GK: Stefan Ortega - With Ederson still sidelined with the groin injury he aggravated against Crystal Palace, Ortega can against strut his stuff in goal.

RB: Matheus Nunes - Not trusted to play in central midfield by Guardiola, Nunes has found a home at full-back and his driving run to the byline against Everton led to O'Reilly's winner.

CB: Abdukodir Khusanov - While this game holds huge importance for City, Ruben Dias has often been dropped to the bench when the bigger picture is taken into account. With a place in the FA Cup final up for grabs at the weekend, this could be another such occasion,

CB: Josko Gvardiol - Nico O'Reilly's emergence as a quality option at left-back has allowed Gvardiol to slide into the role he favours most.

LB: Nico O'Reilly - What an impact the teenager continues to make for City, displaying a maturity beyond his tender years.

DM: Mateo Kovacic - Not known for his goalscoring, Kovacic has rattled in crackers against Palace and Everton in City's last two outings. His reward could be a return to the team in place of Ilkay Gundogan.

DM: Nico Gonzalez - The 23-year-old is continuing to find his feet in midfield and has arguably been outshone by Gundogan of late. But the only way he gets better is by staying in the team from the off.

RW: Savinho - A starter on the left against Everton, the Brazilian could flip to a role he's equally adept in so that Bernardo Silva can be rotated to the bench.

AM: Kevin De Bruyne - De Bruyne was superb against Crystal Palace, putting in a player of the match performance, but looked every bit like a 33-year-old against Everton. City need the best version of him to unlock Villa's energetic midfield.

LW: Jeremy Doku - Villa don't have many weaknesses in their side but are susceptible to being targeted on the flanks. Isolating Matty Cash with the pace and trickery of Doku could be the ace in Guardiola's pack.

ST: Omar Marmoush - The Egyptian had the least amount of touches of any outfield player for City's win over Everton (37) which suggests that it's not just Erling Haaland who struggles to engage with Guardiola's preferred style of play. A sniff of goal could be all he needs though to add to the six Premier League goals he's already netted.