Aston Villa v Manchester City - Stats and Facts

Manchester City travel to Aston Villa on Wednesday, looking to keep their fine run of results at Villa Park going.

City have won their last three visits to Villa Park, with two in the Premier League (2-1 and 6-1) and an FA Cup tie in January 2016, which the blues won 4-0. They are unbeaten in their last five matches on Villa soil, with a 0-0 draw in November 2015 preceded by a 2-0 win in October 2014.

Prior to that run, City have had a hit and miss campaign at Villa. City had won just five of their fourteen visits between December 2000 and September 2013. However, from those meetings, City only lost four, meaning they still have the upper hand on their opponents.

City lost both their last ever Football League and first ever Premier League matches at Villa Park. In December 1991, the blues were defeated 3-1 on a cold day in Birmingham (trust me, it was freezing), then lost in March 1993 by the same score.

Villa v City fixtures just about span three centuries. The two teams first met on Villa soil in October 1899, which City lost 2-1. The blues had to wait until February 1904 to get their first win at Villa, then had to wait another 16 years for their next league win, although a 2-1 FA Cup win in February 1910 helped prevent a long winless run.

While City have the ascendence in today’s game, it wasn’t always the case in the early days. The blues won just six of their first forty league and cup games at Villa, losing an incredible twenty-six matches.

This run included City’s longest losing streak of seven matches between September 1920 and December 1928. It was a barren run that included a 5-1 battering, however this is not City’s heaviest defeat at Villa. That came, scarily, on 1^st December 1900, when Villa beat the blues 7-1. That should be enough to send the superstitious running for the hills!

City’s longest winless run came between April 1931 and December 1949 when the blues failed to win for ten matches. The blues lost six and drew four, with nine of the matches coming in the league and one in the FA Cup.

A win for City on Wednesday will equal their longest unbeaten run at Villa. The last time City went six matches unbeaten was between April 2004 and December 2007. The blues won three of those matches, while the other three were drawn, including a 1-1 FA Cup draw where a certain Micah Richards let out a little expletive on live TV after scoring a last-minute equaliser!

City’s biggest win at Villa was achieved only recently. In January 2020, the blues were 4-0 up at half time, and Sergio Aguero completed his hat-trick in the second half as City won 6-0. This result eclipsed the 5-1 win at Villa Park in April 1991, when David White scored four.

The blues have kept nineteen clean sheets in eighty-nine matches, while Villa have prevented the blues from scoring on twenty-two occasions.

City have scored 105 goals at Villa, compared to Villa’s 145, so the blues have some catching up to do. The last time these two teams played out a goalless draw was November 2015 and there have been just six 0-0 stalemates in the history of this fixture.

Looking to worry the superstitious types, this fixture has been played in December twelve times, and Villa are slightly ahead with five wins. City have four and there have been three draws. However, as stated above, this fixture has been played just once on 1^st December which didn’t exactly end in a great way for City.

Let’s hope for better on Wednesday.