28 min: Villa’s backline is resolute as City look for an opening and Zaniolo does well to chest a Grealish cross back to Olsen.

26 min: Foden is dispossessed and Villa break, but Gvardiol puts in a fine challenge to halt their drive forward.

24 min: Grealish smashes a volley into the ground, and it goes wide of Olsen … though I think the keeper got fingertips on it. It’s given as a goalkick, though.

23 min: Doku shows off his quick feet on the right and fires in his cross, but Olsen does well to hold on.

It’s a wonderful one-two between Durán and Rogers, with the forward skipping into the box from the left-hand side and slotting in low past Ortega. Durán has been lively so far and that’s a fine finish.

GOAL! Manchester City 1-1 Aston Villa (Durán 20)

17 min: City have calmed down a bit since that opening goal … and just as I type that they explode forward, with Grealish looking particularly impressive down the left-hand side.

14 min: Out of nowhere Villa threaten, with Douglas Luiz playing a lovely lofted ball into the box, which Durán watches carefully before volleying first time … Ortega pulls off a fine low save. Seems like the Villa forward was offside anyway.

13 min: Digne launches a long throw into the City box, and it’s flicked on … but there’s no damage done.

VAR has a look at whether Doku’s offside – he ain’t. The goal stands and this already has the feel of a long evening for Villa.

GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Aston Villa (Rodri 11)

10 min: Rodri tries his luck with his left foot from the edge of the box, but he’s off balance as he hits it and doesn’t properly threaten Olsen.

9 min: There’s a bit of pinball in the Villa box but City are unable to get a shot off.

8 min: Foden and Álvarez stand over it … the former whips it in to the box and Olsen collects it with authority.

7 min: The electric Doku goes down on the right-hand side to win City a free-kick.

6 min: Durán clashes heads and is down for a bit, but fear not Villa fans – he’s back up again and ready to keep playing.

4 min: Lewis tries to slide in Foden but it’s just out of the desired reach of City’s No 47.

2 min: Douglas Luiz’s ball in is decent but dealt with. Grealish, against his former club, cuts in from the left and chips in a lovely ball into the box for Álvarez to hop on to, and he smashes the ball into the side-netting from a tight angle. A smart run from the City striker.

1 min: Digne pops a ball down the line for Zaniolo to chase on to and his cross is blocked out for a corner.

Peep!

“Villa fan here in Philadelphia!” writes Tim Hyland. “Have been supporting them since ‘08-09. This has been a dream of a season. Strange lineup today, and though I get it, this looks an awful lot like kinda maybe hoping for a point but not even expecting that much.”

Ah, 08/09, the days of Martin Laursen, Ashley Young, Gareth Barry and co. Enjoy, Tim.

“Despite the Pep talk, Haaland’s drop to the bench surely confirms what Roy Keane must have had insider knowledge about: Poor Erling will be an Accrington Stanley player by the start of next season!,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “Actually, methinks Mr. Keane is still extracting his vengeance on Pere Alfie with such slurs on the son. Without the bad language of old, at least, so he’s mellowing.”

Anywho, here’s one of my fave Keane clips. Why would you let the phone ring out? Roy’s right.

Michael Butler’s watching Arsenal-Luton by the way. Martin Odegaard’s opened the scoring, which amps up the pressure on City.

A reminder, too, that Villa are without the injured Ollie Watkins, who has 16 goals in the league this season. The man tasked with filling his space is Jhon Durán, this just his second start in the Premier League.

Martínez ruled out with illness

Plenty of changes for both sides then: Aké, Kovacic, De Bruyne and Haaland drop out of City’s XI. For Villa, Watkins, Moreno, Torres, Tielemans and Bailey are missing from the lineup that started in the win over Wolves.

The teams

Here’s some pre-game chit-chat, with Pep Guardiola bigging up his star forward after Roy Keane used those two dreaded words: League Two.

Speaking of Aston Villa’s previous visits to the Etihad, remember this? Madness.

Preamble