Aston Villa vs Manchester City Prediction and Betting Tips: Two shots on target plays for Wednesday's game

Aston Villa will look to keep up the pace with this season's Premier League title chasers when reigning champions Manchester City visit Villa Park, with their encounter live on Amazon Prime Video at 8:15pm on Wednesday.

Only one point separates last season's treble winners from Unai Emery's heavy punching Aston Villa in the division's current top four picture. The Spaniard's heroics at B6 have been well documented, winning 30 of his 49 matches in the claret and blue dugout, with half of these coming at home as part of an incredible victorious stretch of 15 matches at Villa Park.

A frustrating late equaliser from Dejan Kulusevski resulted in more dropped points for Man City last weekend, now having drawn each of their last three matches. The task of a visit to the West Midlands is made more difficult than Pep Guardiola would like, knowing for certain that he'll be without Rodri and Jack Grealish due to suspension, with Jeremy Doku another doubt, who's scheduled for a late fitness to determine his availability for the Aston Villa vs Man City game.

After a fantastic goal which levelled the score against Bournemouth on Sunday, Leon Bailey should retain his place in the Villa starting line up for the visit of Man City. Last weekend's curled strike was Bailey's fourth of the current Premier League campaign and his seventh in 20 appearances for AVFC this term. The Jamaican is very much a confidence-based player, as many wingers tend to be, so entering such a crucial fixture off the back of an important goal will do him the world of good.

The 26-year-old, who has been at Villa Park for over two years now, struggles to put together any significant form due to injuries, however, he's already been involved in plenty of action this campaign. In the PL he's met this line in five of 12 outings, three of which have come on home turf, and two which have been registered in back-to-back matches vs Tottenham and Bournemouth. Averaging 2.81 shots per 90 and having scored in this exact fixture last season before Unai Emery took over for Steven Gerrard, Bailey may prove a very tempting play in the shots on target market for several punters in this game.

Douglas Luiz has become arguably the most important cog in the Unai Emery-Aston Villa engine, featuring in all of his side's last 46 matches across four different competitions. The Brazilian's reading of the game is excellent, but perhaps his most impressive development since the Spaniard took charge is his presence in front of the opposition goal.

Earlier this campaign, the former Man City midfielder broke a record which had stood for 17 years at Villa Park, becoming the first player in claret and blue to score in six consecutive home matches, outdoing Gareth Barry's tally of four from 2006. That incredible run did come to an end, however, Luiz is never far away from rippling the back of the net he's so present in and around the box nowadays. Villa's #6 has struck eight shots on target in the league this season, clearing this line six times - four of these coming in B6. Dougie had an effort saved during Sunday's trip to the south coast and we believe that he can register one back-to-back at generous odds of 5/2.