Preview: Villa (Away)

Our second televised game in just over a week sees us travel to Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa, the scene of Mark Hughes' first domestic defeat as City boss last August. The return to Birmingham for England midfielder Gareth Barry will no doubt be the biggest talking point of the evening, and another loyal servant who happened to move between the clubs this summer, Richard Dunne, will certainly have a point to prove having been forced to change employers just a few weeks ago.

With over twenty years service between them at their previous clubs there should, ideally at least, be no theatrics from supporters, but it's probably too much to ask nowadays. Dunne led City through some tough, tough times and had several terrific seasons. He proved a reliable captain and superb role model, and ultimately only left the club when an endless transfer pot meant we could significantly improve as and when we liked. He'll get a good reception from our travelling numbers, and rightly so.

As for Barry, well, i'm not so hopeful. Twelve seasons should guarantee him a warm welcome, but it won't. I'm sure the choruses of boos will ring loudly, and the odd comedian will bring along a few banknotes to wave in his general direction. The player's crime, leaving a club who have repeatedly failed to qualify for the Champions League or win trophies for one buying world-class footballers by the bucketload didn't and still doesn't make sense to the more deluded amongst their pack.

Emmanuel Adebayor should return after serving his three-game ban for the first of his much-publicised incidents against Arsenal at Eastlands three weeks ago. Who might make way is anyone's guess. Carlos Tevez is in form and looking fitter each game. Craig Bellamy has dragged us through what without our Togolese forward could have proved a very difficult month. Martin Petrov is perhaps most likely to drop to the bench, though if Stephen Ireland is match-fit it still leaves one too many for the midfield places.

Given the opposition, and the fact that we might be on the backfoot for significant parts of the game, i'd probably keep Nigel de Jong in the defensive-midfield role. He's done enough to hold onto his place, and it may come down to one of Shaun Wright-Phillips or Ireland missing out. Fit and well they'd both, the latter especially, be in any of our strongest eleven's, we've simply got too many bodies and the form of others mean Hughes has a tough decision to make. I suspect SWP might get the nod on the right of a four, with Bellamy playing from wide left.

For Villa, Steve Sidwell could return in place of young Fabian Delph. Carlos Cuellar is likely to continue at right-back with recent buys Dunne and Collins in the middle. The in-form Gabriel Agbonlahor will play alongside alleged summer target John Carew, and Young and Milner could well cause our full-backs concern. Long-term injured Bouma, Downing and Curtis Davies will be missing.

It's an extremely difficult one to call and both sides will fancy their chances. It's a 50/50 game, in my opinion, and could go either way, whoever comes out of the traps fastest may well triumph. They've been strong at home since the opening day defeat by Wigan, but Villa Park has proved a relatively happy hunting ground for us in recent seasons, with last season's 4-2 defeat only our second there in the Premier League. I don't recall us being too bad that day, barring ten minutes or so of awful defending resulting in a seven-minute Agbonlahor treble. It'd be nice to put the record straight this time round.

I'm expecting to see an open game. Both teams have an abundance of pace in the final third and can be suspect defensively. We should be capable of winning the midfield battle, but coping with their wingers, and the height and physical presence of Carew could prove a much tougher ask. Two victories in our opening three away fixtures this term, however, already as many as last season, should give us hope of picking up at least a point.

Possible teams:
Villa: Friedel, Cuellar, Warnock, Dunne, Collins, Petrov, Milner, Sidwell, Agbonlahor, Carew, A.Young

City: Given, Zabaleta, Bridge, Toure, Lescott, de Jong, SWP, Barry, Tevez, Adebayor, Bellamy

Prediction: Villa 2 City 2