Man City give Aston Villa a bigger headache for Premier League final

Manchester City will have a rare advantage when they step out for their Premier League game with Aston Villa on Sunday.

After months of having less time to prepare for games than their opponents owing to Champions League and other commitments, Pep Guardiola and his players will have had seven days to plan for their last match of the season. Villa, by contrast, have barely time to recover from playing Burnley on Thursday night before they must turn themselves round for one of the most difficult challenges in the game.

Just in case that, and the fact that City have a better squad and manager than Villa owing to vaster resources, doesn't swing things enough in the favour of the league champions, Thursday's training sessions makes like even more difficult for Villa coach Steven Gerrard. Having seemingly been ruled out for the season, John Stones and Kyle Walker were out on the pitch at the City Football Academy to raise the prospect of them featuring on Sunday.

Also read: John Stones and Kyle Walker raise hopes of surprise Man City return

Using them at the Etihad would carry a risk for Guardiola that has been attempted before with adverse consequences. Both players were rushed back from injuries for the Champions League semi-final with Real Madrid, and both have not played since after being forced off in those games.

However, the manager showed then that he was willing to start players after just a few training sessions. As he said of starting Walker at the Bernabeu: "I'm not a guy who likes to risk but there are moments in a season you have to risk, this is one of them."

The potential reward of a Champions League final was deemed worth the gamble, and so too would the Premier League trophy that City will get if they win on