Man City 3-1 Aston Villa LIVE! Premier League result, match stream, latest updates today

Manchester City vs Aston Villa LIVE!

The Premier League title race is poised to take another twist at the Etihad Stadium this afternoon. Manchester City can move back within three points of the lead with victory over mid-table Aston Villa after rivals Arsenal followed a shock defeat by Everton by dropping two more points at home to Brentford in a London derby yesterday.

That 1-1 draw has offered City real incentive ahead of their massive trip to the Emirates on Wednesday night, with Pep Guardiola’s side able to reclaim top spot with back-to-back victories in the coming days. It would be quite the riposte to another difficult week for the reigning champions, whose manager came out fighting and took aim at their rivals after charges levelled at City by the top-flight for more than 100 alleged breaches of their financial rules.

Villa will be wary of facing a Guardiola side motivated to make a real statement today as they look to push into the top half of the table after an inconsistent recent run under Unai Emery. Follow Manchester City vs Aston Villa live below!

Man City vs Aston Villa latest news

• GOAL! Watkins pulls one back

• GOAL! Mahrez tucks home a penalty

• GOAL! Gundogan doubles the lead

• GOAL! Rodri heads home early opener

• Prediction: Comfortable home win

Manchester City FC 3 - 1 Aston Villa FC

18:27 , Alex Young

Back up to second, then, for City and they can go top if they beat Arsenal on Wednesday.

A big ask, though, of course.

Full-time

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95min: Peep, peep, peeeeeeeeep!

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92min: Duran hits the bar! That came from nowhere and the rebound spins away from danger.

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91min: Four minutes added on.

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85min: Mahrez has just missed an absolute sitter from five yards. He’s soon replaced by Ake.

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81min: Into the final 10 minutes and City keeping Villa at arm’s length.

18:11 , Alex Young

81min: Into the final 10 minutes and City keeping Villa at arm’s length.

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76min: Cash and Coutinho on for Ramsey and Young.

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73min: Two more changes for Villa incoming.

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69min: Foden replaces Grealish, who’s had a great game.

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66min: A remarkable diving clearance by Konsa to deny Alvarez at the back post.

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65min: Pep turns to Foden.

GOAL!

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62min: Watkins pulls one back!

Akanji’s concentration lets him done and the striker does well to run through a slot past Ederson.

Game on...?

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60min: It’s a triple change from Emery.

Digne, Buendia and Bailey are replaced by Moreno, McGinn and Duran.

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58min: Villa set to ring the changes.

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55min: City playing this at their own pace, and that pace is quite slow. You can’t blame them, this one is done.

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52min: Bernardo now appears to be playing at left-back.

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48min: Alvarez involved immediately to set up Rodri for a snap shot at goal. Martinez saves comfortably.

Second half

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46min: Back under way.

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Akanji also replaces Dias. So that’s two half-time subs for City.

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Haaland makes way!

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Manuel Akanji and Julian Alvarez are warming-up at half-time...

Half-time!

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49min: Far too easy for City and this one been put to bed before the break.

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47min: Three minutes added on, by the way.

GOAL!

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46min: Mahrez makes no mistake from 12 yards. This one is over,

PENALTY TO CITY!

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44min: Grealish is tripped!

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42min: Dias is now booked for running 30 yards to moan at the ref, despite City being awarded a free kick.Laporte is not happy with his team-mate.

GOAL!

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39min: Haaland drills a pass across goal for Gundogan to tap home!

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36min: Digne is the first player booked. De Bruyne floats in the free kick but Rodri is underneath it and heads well wide.

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31min: Again De Bruyne finds space on the right, skips into the area and looks for Haaland but Villa hoof the ball clear.

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29min: When De Bruyne is in full flight, it’s such a sight. He finds Grealish on the left, who cuts into and bends a shot past Martinez’s far post.

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26min: It’s all City, as expected. More pinball in the area as Rodri hammers a shot into the area and it hits Chambers to prompt handball cries, but the referee - and VAR - is not interested.

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22min: Haaland looks certain to score with another well-worked corner routine. This time it’s Dias at the near post, and the ball falls to Haaland six yards out but his punt at goal is deflected behind.

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18min: Aston Villa fans reply with a "Manchester City, you know what you are" chant.

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14min: Gundogan volleys home from the edge of the area, but Haaland has clattered Martinez in the build-up so it’s correctly ruled out.

Haaland did nothing wrong, per say, but he can’t have any complaints.

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13min: Almost a second for City as Rodri slips through Gundogan, but Martinez makes a good save.

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11min: "We're Man City, we'll cheat when we want" is the chant from the home fans.

I'm not sure they've thought the optics through on this one.

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8min: Mahrez trying to make things happen on the right, and is promptly fouled by Digne.

GOAL!

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5min: Less than five minutes on the clock and Rodri heads home a Mahrez corner.

Easy.

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2min: A chance straight away as Walker gets caught flat-footed to let Watkins run through on goal, but his decision to find Bailey is the wrong one and the move breaks down.

Kick-off!

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1min: Here we go!

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Manchester City fans boo the Premier League anthem at the Etihad.

Not sure it’s giving off quite the message City fans think it is.

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Here come the teams, Walker included.

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Sounds like Walker should be OK to start after all.

Guardiola to Sky Sports

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On team news and Haaland.

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Hold on, we could be in store for a late change to the City line-up. Kyle Walker has pulled out of the warm-up and headed down the tunnel.

He’s got 15 minutes to make kick-off.

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Both sets of players will today wear black armbands in a show of solidarity with the thousands affected by the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

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So, Manchester City will start the game in third after United beat Leeds.

No need for alarm, though. Two wins and City will be top come Wednesday evening.

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Interestingly, this is the first time Grealish has started against his former club since leaving them for £100million. Villa won’t need reminding what he is capable of, but may have to endure it anyway.

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Manchester City fans at the Etihad watching rivals United take on Leeds.

Two late goals appear to have won it for Ten Hag & Co.

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So what is going on with that Manchester City line-up?

At first glance, it’s a three-man defence of Laporte, Dias and Walker, but could Rodri be playing at centre-back and Laporte at left-back?

That would leave the midfield three as De Bruyne, Gundogan and Bernardo ... unless Bernardo is a left-back? Surely not...

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...and the visitors.

Man City XI

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An attacking line-up!

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It sounds like Ruben Dias does start today, his first in the league since October remarkably.

Full team news to be confirmed in five minutes.

Ferrell in the building

15:13 , Alex Young

After watching Wrexham beat Wealdstone yesterday, actor Will Ferrell is at the Etihad to take is some more action.

He’s a huge football (soccer) fan.

City have second change

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Away from their off-field problems, in a footballing sense City are in need of a lift after last week's defeat at Tottenham.

Recent form has been patchy with points dropped in three of the last six Premier League games.

The result at Spurs was particularly frustrating as it meant City missed the chance to cut into Arsenal's lead at the top of the table after the Gunners had lost at Everton the previous day, but have now again seen Arsenal drop points.

Guardiola said: "We lost at Tottenham. The rest was quite good - FA Cup, Premier League - but the game in Spurs was not good enough.

"Of course we know the situation. We have to make more consistency in results and we're going to try and start on Sunday.

"I'm delighted with the team (this week). I know how they train day to day.

"In the previous seasons, in the toughest moments, we were there and I have the feeling we will continue to do it."

Defiant Pep

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It’s been quite the week for Manchester City, but I don’t need to tell you that.

Pep Guardiola was in a defiant mood on Friday as he spoke publicly for the first time since the Premier League charged the club with 115 breaches of its Financial Fair Play regulations, passionately defending the club, expressing an even greater determination to succeed in his job and he expects his side to come out firing today.

He said: "Why should they be distracted? I'm confident in my players. The players will be focused on our game, (as) in the past and (will be) in the future.

"What happened Monday - a lot of words, a lot of noise - and the next days I have the feeling that everyone is going to do the job, ourselves on the pitch and our lawyers in the court."

City need a win, after losing at Tottenham last time out and again seeing Arsenal drop points. A win today and against the Gunners in midweek will see them top of the table.

Score prediction

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City’s woes should be aided by facing a team that is quite leaky at the back. It will be interesting to see how aggressive the visitors approach this game and there could be plenty of goals.

Man City to win, 3-1.

Recall for Moreno?

14:27 , Alex Young

Diego Carlos, Jed Steer and Bertrand Traore are the long-term absentees for Villa.

Manager Unai Emery may hand January signing Alex Moreno a recall after conceding four goals against Leicester a week ago.

Man City hopeful over Foden

14:17 , Alex Young

Phil Foden is back in training and could feature this afternoon after recovering from an illness, leaving the injured John Stones as Man City sole absentee.

Riyad Mahrez will hope to keep his spot, while Ruben Dias is pushing for a start.

How to watch

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TV channel: In the UK, the match will be televised live on Sky Sports Main Event and Premier League, with coverage starting after the conclusion of Leeds vs Manchester United on Super Sunday.

Live stream: Subscribers can also catch the game live online via the Sky Go app.

Welcome to Man City vs Aston Villa LIVE coverage!

14:00 , George Flood

Good afternoon and welcome to Standard Sport’s LIVE coverage of Manchester City vs Aston Villa in the Premier League.

Pep Guardiola’s side will look to come out fighting at the Etihad Stadium today after a hugely difficult week that saw them charged by the top-flight with more than 100 alleged breaches of their financial rules.

City must quickly refocus their attentions to action on the pitch ahead of Wednesday’s massive trip to Arsenal, with their title rivals having dropped more points in a London derby draw with Brentford yesterday.

A win today would see the reigning champions move to within three points of the Gunners ahead of that huge midweek showdown at the Emirates.

Villa will hope to exploit any distractions as they target more consistency under Unai Emery and a move into the top half of the table.

Kick-off is at 4:30pm GMT, so stay tuned for all the latest team news, match build-up and live game updates!