Jack Grealish returns as Man City face Aston Villa in Premier League – live updates

Aston Villa are seventh in the Premier League and saw a run of three wins in a row crash to a halt with a 2-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest last weekend.

Forest scored in the 87th minute and again in stoppage time, had Villa held on they would have come into today’s match above Man City in the table.

And Unai Emery said: “We are being consistent, but to be in the top level we need more in everything. We are patient with our process.

“We are accepting everything in our way, trying to get better.

“Tactically, emotionally, mentally, we are trying to get experiences, winning and sometimes losing, trying to be positive as well.”

Pep Guardiola has backed Erling Haaland to deliver as he seeks to turn around Manchester City’s poor form, but has not ruled out January signings.

City are enduring a slump unprecedented in Guardiola’s glittering managerial career having lost eight and won just one of their last 11 games in all competitions.

Amid the downturn the usually prolific Haaland has dried up in front of goal, with the Norway striker – isolated and starved of chances – scoring just once in his last five appearances.

Yet although the supply lines are clearly faltering, Guardiola has no interest in changing approach and reverting to the false nine system that has served him well in the past.

“I prefer to play with Erling,” said Guardiola ahead of the Premier League trip to Aston Villa. “I don’t think in the situation that I have that I don’t let Erling play – absolutely not. No, no, I didn’t think about that.”

Manchester City have suffered a fresh injury blow with defender Ruben Dias ruled out for up to four weeks.

Manager Pep Guardiola has revealed the Portugal international sustained a muscular problem in the latter stages of last week’s derby defeat to Manchester United.

Guardiola said at a press conference: “After 75 minutes against United he felt something.

“He’s strong and wanted to stay on the pitch, but now he’s injured.”

Txiki Begiristain was looking forward to being entertained. Manchester City, often dubbed big spenders, had spent more than any other English club previously had on one player. They had made Jack Grealish the £100m man. Their director of football called his costliest recruit “one of the most exciting attacking players in world football”.

Three-and-a-half years later, Grealish returns to Aston Villa on Saturday as, arguably, neither an attacking player nor an exciting one. Instead, a maverick has been reinvented as a curiosity, a Pep Guardiola project who now does far fewer of the things often associated with excitement – score goals, make them, run at defenders – than he used to. There are those at Villa Park who will recognise a local accent and see a familiar face. But the player they might see is rather different.

A more successful one, Guardiola may argue, an individualist who became part of a champion team. Grealish may have sacrificed some of the flair, but he got silverware in return. In the glow of the treble, it seemed a fine trade-off. Now? Perhaps not.

The recent form of both sides makes it especially difficult to predict a result, though you’d expect Guardiola and City to remedy their misfortune sooner rather than later, and a win at Villa Park would be the perfect start.

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Ollie Watkins has recovered from a slight knock but Jhon Duran is likely to start ahead of him after impressing during the latter’s absence. Leon Bailey could return to action and Tyrone Mings is available again after missing the match against Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Jacob Ramsey is still out.

Aston Villa vs Man City is due to kick off at 12.30pm GMT on Saturday, 21 December at Villa Park in Birmingham.

The match will be shown on TNT Sports 1, with coverage starting at 11am. Subscribers will also be able to live stream via the discovery+ app.

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Aston Villa host Manchester City in the early kick-off in the Premier League this weekend, with both sides looking to finally turn around respective runs of poor form.

Unai Emery’s side sit in a respectable seventh place, two points behind City, but have won just three of their last 10 domestic matches despite better form in the Champions League.

And Pep Guardiola’s men are currently stuck in the middle of one of the stories of the season, with just one win in their last 11 matches after a dramatic collapse in the Manchester derby last weekend.

Nevertheless, despite this unprecedented run of form for the champions, they are still in fifth, just one point off Nottingham Forest in fourth, and a win here would take them to the same points tally as Arsenal – who are in third ahead of their match against Crystal Palace later today.