Aston Villa v Man City: Back irrepressible Haaland to continue record run

Gerrard feeling the pressure

After four defeats in a row to represent Aston Villa's worst league start for 25 years, Man City are the last team Steven Gerrard wants to see marching into Villa Park for a game that could end up being his last in charge.

Gerrard, who admitted his concern about his job security, is the 5/4 second favourite to be the next Premier League manager to leave and a heavy defeat here could plunge him into even more trouble.

Villa have lost 10 of 11 against City, with the last seven being lost by an aggregate of 22-5 so a big defeat wouldn't be a surprise, but it could spell the beginning of the end for Gerrard.

Only Everton (15) have lost more Premier League games than Villa (13) in 2022, and while a win looks out of the question, it's all about the performance for Gerrard and his struggling side.

Electric Haaland boosts free-scoring City

We knew Erling Haaland would score goals, we didn't imagine he'd bang in back-to-back hat-tricks and a record nine goals in his first five games. He's the huge odds-on favourite now to win the Golden Boot - and we have questioned on this blog whether the race is already over.

With 19 goals so far, Pep Guardiola's side have scored more in their opening five games than any City side ever, and on a 20-game unbeaten away run and playing their favourite Premier League opponent they'll fancy another comfortable three points.

City were anything but comfortable when slipping two goals behind against both Newcastle and Crystal Palace - something Villa also managed before losing 3-2 on the final day of last season as Guardiola won another league title.

City are big favourites to win the league yet again, with the addition of Haaland making it almost an unfair fight for a team that has already dominated everyone bar Liverpool over the last five years.

Can Haaland complete a hat-trick of hat-tricks?

The way he's been playing, the 10.09/1 on Haaland to become the first player ever to score hat-tricks in three straight games almost seems like a price worth taking, but it surely won't be another treble for the Norwegian.

It still seems a case of how many Haaland will score, not if he'll score - and the same goes for City, so even as huge favourites there'll be plenty playing the City to win/Haaland to score Bet Builder double even at just 1.84/5.

The 8.07/1 on a home win tells you that Villa's main aim here is to produce a vastly improved performance and try and keep the score down to something respectable.

The big question is whether Villa can score, as they have done in five of the last six meetings - and they certainly have the pace up front that has troubled City's backline.

There's been over 2.5 goals in eight of the last nine meetings, and in 14 of City's last 15 games in all competitions, so that looks almost nailed-on for the game.

That's great news for bettors on the Betfair Exchange thanks to an offer on this game where if you place a £10 bet on over 2.5 goals in the Villa v City game you'll get you money back as a free bet should it lose - bet here!

An early goal for City though could really sour the mood at Villa Park and open the floodgates, so preference in terms of Bet Builders would be to couple over 3.5 goals with a City victory and the inevitable Haaland goal.

De Bruyne to be back in the starting XI

Kevin De Bruyne will likely start after coming on as a sub against Nottingham Forest in the week, and he'll again by the string puller in chief for City.

Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez and Riyad Mahrez could all score or assist, but Guardiola's selection is tought to predict - apart from De Bruyne will surely start.

De Bruyne should be involved in all of your Bet Builder multiples, especially backing him to either assist a goal or in the shots on target market.

A nice De Bruyne double here gives you odds of 3.39/4 for the Belgian to provide an assist and have just one shot on target.