Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Manchester City vs Aston Villa team news: David Silva fit to start for unchanged City as Villa change three from FA Cup semi-final victory

Brad Guzan, Jores Okore and Carlos Sanchez comes into the starting line-up

Jack de Menezes
Saturday 25 April 2015 16:41 BST
Comments

Manchester City are unchanged from the 2-0 win over West Ham last Sunday as they look to get their season back on track and battle Arsenal and Manchester United for second place in the match against Aston Villa.

With the title looking more and more likely to be heading to Chelsea, City’s season began to unravel and they now sit fourth and fighting for a top-four finish. They are likely to be without captain Vincent Kompany for the rest of the season due to a groin injury, so Eliaquim Mangala and Martin Demichelis continue at the back, with Frank Lampard in midfield.

David Silva is fit to start despite being taken to hospital after suffering a head injury in the win over the Hammers, and January signing Wilfried Bony returns from injury to replace Jose Angel Pozo on the substitutes’ bench.

Villa make three changes to the side that knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup to reach the final, with regular goalkeeper Brad Guzan returning in place of Shay Given.

Jores Okore comes in at centre-back to partner Ron Vlaar with Nathan Baker dropping out, while Carlos Sanchez starts in pace of Charles N’Zogbia, who drops to the bench.

Line-ups:

Aston Villa: Guzan, Bacuna, Okore, Vlaar, Richardson, Sanchez, Westwood, Cleverley, Delph, Grealish, Benteke.

Subs: Given, Weimann, Cole, Senderos, Cissokho, N'Zogbia, Lowton.

Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Mangala, Kolarov, Fernando, Lampard, Navas, Yaya Toure, Silva, Aguero.

Subs: Caballero, Sagna, Boyata, Fernandinho, Nasri, Dzeko, Bony.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in