Playing Manchester City is always a test, and today will be no different. Our last outing in Europe, against the football club with a funny name, Go Ahead Eagles, ended in defeat, but I thought our performance over the ninety minutes was worthy of a win. The result didn’t reflect the effort or the control we showed for large parts of the game.
Back in the Premier League, both sides come into this one in solid form. City are, as ever, up there in the mix, but we’ve started to build our own rhythm too. Still, it feels a bit premature to declare that we’ll beat them at Villa Park this afternoon, as much as I’d love to write that headline.
The key today, I think, lies in Emery’s starting line-up. His selections will tell us everything about how he plans to approach this one. Get that balance right, the energy, the discipline, the bravery in and out of possession, and we give ourselves a real chance. From the first whistle to the last, we’ll need to be at it.
One final thought: if we can pull off something special today, it could really propel us up the table, right into the mix where we belong. UTV