Aston Villa vs Manchester City Prediction, Odds and Picks for Saturday, 12/21/24

Aston Villa fell to defeat at Nottingham Forest last weekend, but prior to that they had won 3 straight games and they could get back on track against a Manchester City team in utter turmoil. The Villans have been subject to some criticism this season but, despite the naysayers, they find themselves 7th in the Premier League and 5th in the new-look Champions League standings. They have lost just 2 of their 12 competitive home games and have taken positive results from Juventus, Bayern Munich and Manchester United at Villa Park.

Manchester City, already 9 points behind Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table, hit a new low on Sunday as they saw a 1-0 lead in the Manchester derby overturned in the space of 3 Amad Diallo-inspired minutes at the Etihad. Barring a brief respite in the form of a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest, it has been a wretched couple of months for the reigning champions, with 1 win, 2 ties and an incredible 8 defeats leaving them licking their wounds. As a big home underdog, Aston Villa look to have plenty of value to add to City’s misery.