- Manchester City U21 have won four of their last five, and are currently on a four-match winning streak
- Aston Villa U21 have won two of their last three, but they are inconsistent (W2, D2, L1 in their last five)
- City U21 last met Villa U21 in the previous Premier League 2 campaign, a 4-1 home win
City can make the grade in key Premier League 2 clash
Two of the best academies in the world meet on Friday in a Premier League 2 fixture that could have serious ramifications for the impending knockout phases.
The Citizens’ U21s are red-hot at the moment, having won four of their last five and are currently on a four-game winning streak, while Villa are inconsistent (W2, D2, L1 in their last five) and will be the underdogs in this clash.
The odds reflect this disparity, with City a shade of odds-on at 11/20, while Villa are a huge 18/5 to notch a win.
City are a possession football club
Benjamin Wilkinson’s men play the exact City style that we’re familiar with at the first-team level, a possession-based, high-tempo game with plenty of intricate rotations. They press, they win the ball back high up the pitch and they dominate possession.
Wolves Academy and Nottingham Forest Academy were the latest teams to feel the force of City’s attacking force, both of whom were outclassed in recent 6-0 and 3-0 home wins. City are the seventh-best team in the Premier League 2 table (28 points from 15 matches) but Villa sit even lower, in 19th place (18 points from 13 games).
Villa can counter attack in numbers
Josep Gombau has installed a similar ethos to the senior side’s at Villa Park, instilling a compact 4-2-3-1 that focuses on being organised and getting men behind the ball. Villa usually start with two deep central midfielders and look to transition quickly when winning the ball.
Their double pivot must cover a lot of ground, while their central defenders and attacking midfielders must be disciplined and have the quality to transition quickly on the counter-attack.
Villa Park is not a fortress for the Villans
Villa have had mixed results at Villa Park, where they have won just twice in seven attempts in the Premier League 2 (W2, D1, L4).
City are much better than Villa, as well as being the form favourites, so it’s no surprise that they are priced as the favourites for this clash. A few tweaks from Wilkinson have seemed to make them one of the most lethal attacking teams in the league, and Matthew Warhurst has been a dangerous customer up top with seven goals from City U21's last 20 goals.
Villa are a counter-attacking side and can make a game of this, so we’ll take the outsiders in the double chance market, but City should have enough firepower to take the win here.
Both teams to score is overpriced at 9/20, matching up perfectly with Villa’s home games, where they have scored 2.00 goals per game and conceded 2.57. City have also been free-scoring on the road, where they have struck 12 times in seven away games (1.71 per game).
