Erling Haaland can resist Man City change against Aston Villa

Pep Guardiola gave an emphatic defence of his Manchester City team ahead of this game, insisting that what he had seen from their recent draws was enough to keep him believing that they would win the Premier League title. Manager backs team is no shock, but it was surprising to see how strong Guardiola was in his conviction.

The City boss is not daft enough to pretend everything is perfect with his team, and later on in the press conference he admitted just how severe the change has been at the Etihad this season. "How we saw the team, with the problems that we have, changing the core of the team, the midfield players is completely opposite to what we have the last seasons," he said.

City's problems will continue on Wednesday in the form of the absent Rodri and Jack Grealish - suspended after five yellow cards. Whether the new core can make up for that remains to be seen.

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All eyes will be on Erling Haaland on Wednesday to see what the flip he is thinking during the Villa match, and the home side will presumably use every opportunity to try to make him lose his cool. After missing two good chances and making headlines for his mouth on Sunday, the Norwegian will want his feet to start doing the talking again.

Haaland is not hitting the heights that he would expect or did last season, yet is still clear as the top scorer in the Premier League and joint-top in the Champions League. And while last year he scored two thirds of his goal at the Etihad, so far in this campaign he has more on his travels.

However much change there is in the City team, Haaland is usually the