Aston Villa vs Man City live team news as De Bruyne and Walker dropped but defensive pair return

Manchester City hope to return to winning ways on Saturday as they take on Aston Villa at Villa Park.

Pep Guardiola's side lost to Manchester United last weekend to make it 10 winless games from the last 11 in all competitions, with just one win in seven in the Premier League to slip to fifth.

Villa will overtake City with a win on Saturday, although City have had a rare week off and could have Manu Akanji back in the squad after he returned to training on Thursday.

John Stones and Mateo Kovacic have also returned in the last week, however Ruben Dias is the latest player to pick up an injury and joins Nathan Ake, Rodri and Oscar Bobb on the sidelines. Guardiola also confirmed that Ederson is a doubt to face Villa.

Follow below for pre-match build-up, live match updates and post-match reaction from Villa Park.

So Ederson is out and that isn't much of a surprise. But it is a shock to see Matheus Nunes out of the squad entirely even given his blunders against United last weekend.

Nunes is 'injured' according to City, along with Ederson - while Akanji and Stones are rushed back into the line up when they would usually be eased back in.

It's a reminder that every step forward brings two or more steps back this season.

Ederson doesn't make the squad as Guardiola hinted, and there's a couple of big changes as Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne are dropped to the bench.

Rico Lewis returns so that means both John Stones and Manu Akanji are brought back from injury straight away. Mateo Kovacic is also back in the starting XI.

Confirmed City team news:

Chief City Writer Simon Bajkowski, at Villa Park:

It’s a risk for City to start John Stones and Manu Akanji together given they have both been injured, but it does mean that