Man City v Aston Villa: Key stats and talking points
Manchester City and Aston Villa meet at Etihad Stadium on Sunday with both clubs bound for the Champions League next season having experienced vastly different emotions this week. Pep Guardiola's City handed the title to Arsenal with a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Tuesday, meaning they will have to settle for second place and a domestic cup double. Adios, Pep With Guardiola having confirmed his departure on Friday, the send-off for the Spaniard – plus playing legends Bernardo Silva and John Stones – will surely be a rousing one given the 20 trophies he has delivered in his decade-long reign.
Presently, City are on a 15-game unbeaten streak in the league, having lost just once since November. Erling Haaland has scored in each of the past five games and is extremely likely to pick up the Premier League Golden Boot yet again, leading Brentford's Igor Thiago by 27 goals to 22. A third award in four seasons in England would see the Norway striker join lofty company – just four players have three or more wins to their name.
[BBC] Victory against Villa would give City the best home record in the competition – the only time they've lost at the Etihad this season was against Tottenham Hotspur in their first such game of the campaign way back in August. In this exact fixture, City have been dominant for the past two decades; they've won 19 of their past 20 league home games against the Birmingham club, emerging victorious in all 15 since a 2-0 loss in April 2007. The Etihad's expanded North Stand – which is to be renamed the Pep Guardiola Stand – was tested successfully midweek, meaning this match will almost certainly set a new attendance record for the stadium.
Victorious Villa Aston Villa could be forgiven for dismissing this game as an irrelevance given their emphatic win over Freiburg in Wednesday's Europa League final, the club's first major trophy in 30 years. But where Unai Emery's side finish in the table has enormous ramifications for the other top-flight clubs chasing European football. If Villa, currently fourth, were to end up fifth, it would mean a sixth Premier League team qualifies for next season's Champions League, albeit the two Europa League spots would be reduced to one (whoever comes seventh).
The team in eighth would earn a spot in the Conference League. England internationals Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers have been crucial to Villa's success this season and both were named in Thomas Tuchel's England World Cup squad on Friday. Rogers has been involved in more goals this season than any other Englishman attached to a Premier League club.