Martin O'Neill goes back to Aston Villa on Saturday for the first time as Sunderland boss with excellent prospects of proving a point to his former employers.
O'Neill is heading for another top-half finish with Sunderland, just as he achieved in three of his four seasons at Villa Park - 11th in his first campaign, then sixth three times in a row.
Villa, meanwhile, have fallen back to where they were before O'Neill - they finished 16th the season before he took over, with a 42-point total, and are currently 15th on 35 points with five games to play.
One of the principal reasons for Villa's lower level of performance under Alex McLeish this season is their moderate home record, with just four wins out of 16. And that is largely a consequence of the class gap that has opened up since the departures of Ashley Young and Stewart Downing, two of the players who shone under O'Neill.
Villa have kept their heads above water this season mainly by maintaining a good points ratio against the struggling teams, with almost half of their points coming from nine games against the bottom five.
Against all other teams, however, Villa have been hardly able to win at home or away. They have taken only 18 points from 24 games against the teams from 14th upwards, with just three wins and at an overall average of 0.75 points per game.
Villa's home record against the top 14 is two wins, three draws and seven defeats and the highest-placed team they have beaten at Villa Park is Fulham (currently 10th).
Sunderland arrive in ninth place, playing to a standard close to that achieved by O'Neill in his Villa days. Since he took charge, Sunderland have averaged 1.6 points per game (close to the 1.68 in O'Neill's final season at Villa) and have lost only six of their 20 games under his direction.
Most significantly, O'Neill's Sunderland have an excellent record against the teams below them in the table - seven wins, two draws and one defeat.
Coupled with Villa's low home win rate, that record gives Sunderland a solid chance on Saturday off -0 on the Asian handicap at 1.9210/11 and they are worth considering for the win at 3.211/5.
Carlos Tevez is back - and already his goal stats make it seem as if he's never been away. He has scored in both Premier League games since being restored to City's starting line-up and has now found the net in 25 of the 51 league matches he has started under Roberto Mancini.
A scoring rate of 49 per cent is an incredible feat over a period of two and a half seasons, even allowing for his long spell in the doghouse, and indicates he should be around evens to score at any time.
The scoring rate goes up to 56 per cent when City are up against teams outside the big six - which equates to odds of 1.794/5. Inevitably, there are thoughts of what might have been if Tevez had been available for the whole season.
To be fair to Sergio Aguero, he has led the attack well for most of the season without Tevez and his stats compare favourably with his fellow Argentinian's. Aguero has scored in 13 of his 27 league starts (48 per cent), although in his case the figure doesn't vary with the class of opposition.
The stats make Tevez, in particular, and Aguero well worth considering in the To Score market in City's remaining games, starting at Wolves on Sunday.
Recommendations
Sunderland off -0 on the Asian handicap v Aston Villa at 1.9210/11
Carlos Tevez to score v Wolves @ 1.84/5 or better