Who: Aston Villa vs Manchester City What: English Premier League Where: Villa Park in Birmingham, United Kingdom When: Saturday, October 22 at 12:30pm ( ) How to follow: Al Jazeera will bring you all the build-up, before our live text commentary stream from 9:30am ( ). Manchester City can continue to put their off-field woes to one side in Saturday’s early kickoff in the Premier League when they travel to Aston Villa, where they will move six points clear at the top with a win. Holders Arsenal entertain Everton later in the day and will very much hope to extend their winning run in the league to a third match.
City do, however, have a 100 percent record from their first seven games in the league this season, a run that defies the guilty verdict by an independent commission regarding more than 100 breaches of the competition’s financial rules. The Manchester club have appealed the decision and no sanctions have, as of yet, been imposed. Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at City’s trip to Villa Park, where the Cityzens ’ siege mentality is expected to continue.
Enzo Maresca said it is his job as Manchester City boss to help Phil Foden rediscover his best form after the England international ended his long goal drought. Foden had not scored for 10 months before netting in City’s 3-2 win over Ipswich last weekend and then scored a Champions League hat-trick in a 5-1 rout of AEK Athens on Tuesday. The 26-year-old swept the board of personal awards for the Premier League’s best player in the 2023/24 season after a 27-goal campaign.
But Foden, who has admitted struggling with mental health issues, has failed to hit top form for the past two seasons. Just to show him, I don’t know if love is the right word to use, but just to show him how important he is,” said Maresca, who took charge of City in June. If you improve the players, you improve the team.
The Italian is the first manager ever to win his first seven Premier League games in charge of a new club. However, City’s fine form has been overshadowed by the threat of severe sanctions against the club for the widespread flouting of Premier League financial rules. A large points deduction, which could lead to relegation, is likely unless City win their appeal.
Maresca said the mood in the dressing room remained buoyant despite the cloud hanging over the club. Under former Arsenal manager Unai Emery, Villa have been regulars among the European spots in recent seasons, and were even challengers for the title at one point. This term has provided a sterner examination of their credentials after the exit of a number of the top stars of recent campaigns, including Morgan Rogers and Emiliano Martinez to Chelsea, Youri Tielemans to City’s rivals United and Ollie Watkins to Al-Hilal.
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