Manchester City will be looking to retain the Premier League title when the welcome Aston Villa to the Etihad Stadium for their final game of the season on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola's men currently hold a one-point advantage over Liverpool at the top of the table, and victory against Steven Gerrard's side would be enough to claim their fourth top-flight crown in five seasons.
The Citizens will be confident of wrapping up the title in front of their own supporters, as they have had plenty of success when locking horns with the Villans over the years.
Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at Man City's head-to-head Premier League record against Aston Villa ahead of Sunday's showdown in the North-West.
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Man City have faced Aston Villa on 43 occasions in the Premier League, with the Citizens winning 27 times compared to just seven victories secured by the Villans. The remaining nine encounters have finished all square.
City's impressive home record against Villa bodes well for this weekend's clash at the Etihad, as they have won 18 of their 22 Premier League home games against them. One of only two home defeats was back in March 2001 when Paul Merson, Dion Dublin and Lee Hendrie all scored to help the Villans win 3-1, while the other saw John Carew and Shaun Maloney secure a 2-0 away win in April 2007.
Back in the 90s, City failed to win their first two meetings with Villa, drawing 1-1 at Maine Road in December 1992 before losing 3-1 away from home four months later. However, they then ended the decade with a seven-game unbeaten run against them.
The turn of the millennium saw City fail to win in three successive league games against Villa – two defeats and a draw between December 2000 and August 2002 – but they then followed this blip with an eight-game unbeaten run lasting four years, which included seven victories and 19 goals scored.
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Between 2007 and 2008, City only won one of their four league encounters against Martin O'Neill's Villa side, but since then the Citizens have gone on to dominate this fixture, claiming 50 points from a possible 60 available.
The Citizens have won nine of their last 10 Premier League matches against Villa – drawing the other 0-0 at Villa Park in November 2015 – and in the Pep Guardiola era, they have won all five league meetings by an aggregate score of 15-3.
City's biggest Premier League victory against Villa came in January 2020 when they cruised to a 6-1 win at Villa Park, a game which saw club legend Sergio Aguero net three times to become the scorer of the most hat-tricks in the division's history.
The last time that City faced Villa at the Etihad, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan were both on the scoresheet to help them secure a routine 2-0 win behind closed doors in January 2021. This season, Silva and Portuguese compatriot Ruben Dias both found the net in a 2-1 win over Gerrard's men at Villa Park in December. Ollie Watkins pulled one back for the hosts but Guardiola's side held on for all three points.
City's title rivals Liverpool will be hoping that club legend Gerrard will do them a favour on Sunday, but considering that Villa have lost 15 of their last 16 away league matches against the Citizens and have lost each of the last 11 in a row – their longest away losing streak against an opponent in their league history – it seems a tall order for them to come away with victory at the Etihad.
Oliver Thomas
