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Manchester City entertain Aston Villa this evening with the prospect of going top of the league dangling above the blues. City will go level with Leicester, who went top last night with a 2-0 victory over Chelsea, and will remain there if United fail to beat Fulham in West London.
Wednesday’s meeting will be the 86th time Villa have travelled to City in all competitions, and in that time they have won just 17 on City soil. The blues have won 52 of the meetings, including beating Villa on the last five occasions, where City have recorded a 5-0, two 4-0, one 3-2 and one 3-0 victories between November 2012 and October 2019.
Villa last won at City in September 2012, a 4-2 win in the League Cup which ended a run of six successive victories for the blues. The last time City lost in the league at home to Villa was April 2007, when Villa won 2-0.
That loss is only City second defeat at home to Villa in the Premier League era, with the other coming in March 2001, when a relegation bound City lost 3-1. In 38 games played in Manchester, City have won 26 to Villa’s 7, with 6 draws thrown in sporadically, a run dating back to February 1976.
The last time these two drew in Manchester was December 1994. Uwe Rosler gave City a two goal lead, his second coming in the 54th minute, however two goals in five minutes levelled the scores and the match finished 2-2. There has been just one goalless draw in this fixture, and that came in April 1959.
The last time City failed to score at home to Villa was April 2007, while Villa have failed to score on 8 of their previous 12 visits to the Etihad Stadium.
In the Premier League era, City have scored 53 goals while conceding just 15 in 20 matches. City have kept 10 clean sheets in the same period, while failing to score just once.
City’s biggest home win against Villa is 6-1 in an FA Cup tie in March 1934, while their biggest league win is 5-0, achieved on two occasions – December 1935 and November 2012. City’s heaviest defeat is 6-2 in February 1911.
City and Villa have only met five times in January, but never on this date. Both teams have won two each, with one draw separating the two.