| DID YOU KNOW? |
- Richard Dunne and Gareth Barry are both playing against their former teams. Dunne played over 300 games for Manchester City and was captain for a large part of that time. His departure from Eastlands was seen as somewhat of a betrayal by the club management following his long service for the Sky Blues.
- Barry’s story is very similar and almost a mirror image, with the club captain playing over 350 games at the Birmingham outfit, and his big money move up the M6 did not go down well with the Villa fans.
- These sides have met nine times in the FA Cup, with City leading the figures with five wins, Villa have two victories, and there have been two draws.
- The last meeting in the cup was in round five of the 2006 competition when the game finished 1-1 at Villa Park. City advanced in the replay with goals from Georgios Samaras and former Villa man Darius Vassell.
- City’s reliance on Carlos Tevez is huge. He’s netted 21 goals this term with the next highest scorer,Mario Balotelli, way behind on nine.
- Villa’s goalscoring is more evenly shared throughout the squad. Ashley Young leads the way on eight, Stewart Downing is on seven and Emile Heskey six.
- In the last four meetings at Eastlands, City have won all of them and conceded only a single goal, so the omens are not in the favour of Gerard Houllier’s visitors.
- Both of the sides have had success in the FA Cup. City have won the trophy four times, the last being in 1969. Villa have lifted the cup seven times but not since 1957. Villa will have extra motivation following the events of Sunday, when rivals Birmingham City won the League Cup and ensured European football at St Andrew's next season.
- Aston Villa's last victory at Eastlands was back in April 2007. John Carew and Shaun Maloney were on target for Martin O'Neill's men that day.
- Both sides are desperate to get their hands on a major trophy. City's last major honour was the League Cup title in 1976, while Villa won the same trophy back in 1996.
| LAST MEETING |
January 22, 2011: Aston Villa 1-0 Manchester City
Darren Bent scored on his Villa debut to put another dent in City's title challenge. Bent had signed for £18 million only two days earlier from Sunderland and made the perfect start to life at Villa Park.
| PROBABLE LINE-UPS |
| Manchester City: Hart; Boateng, Kolo Toure, Lescott, Kolarov; Milner, Vieira, Barry; Balotelli, Dzeko, Tevez. |  |
| Aston Villa: Friedel; Walker, Dunne, Clark, Baker; Ashley Young, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Albrighton; Bent, Heskey. |  |
Prediction
You never quite know what to expect at Eastlands. Manchester City could be great as they were against Villa in December, winning 4-0, or they could be positively average, like against Fulham at the weekend. In this one, they will be up.
Editor's Prediction
Man City2Aston Villa 
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