Man City vs Aston Villa live early team news plus kick-off time and how to watch

Pep Guardiola says every game is a final for Manchester City in their bid to qualify for the Champions League and tonight's clash with Aston Villa is perhaps the most significant of the lot.

City currently occupy the final Champions League qualification spot in fifth with five games remaining in the Premier League, sitting two places and just one point ahead of Villa. The Blues can climb above Nottingham Forest and Newcastle to third with a win, having played a game more by full-time, while Villa hope to move level with Forest and add more uncertainty to the top five battle.

Guardiola may be without goalkeeper Ederson again with injury, although Manu Akanji made his return from injury at Everton on Saturday and he could be in contention to start. Phil Foden is also available again with Erling Haaland, Rodri, John Stones and Nathan Ake all still out.

With a chance to get points on the board before the weekend's FA Cup semi-final, Guardiola and City will know this is an opportunity that cannot be missed.

Follow below for pre-match build-up, live match updates and post-match reaction from a huge night at the Etihad.

Let's go over the City team news as we know it. Pep Guardiola did his pre-match media duties for this one immediately after the Everton game so we don't have any fresh updates on the likes of Ederson.

But there were fears last week that the goalkeeper would be out for much of the run-in and Guardiola couldn't confirm when he would be back. So we can assume he is more likely to be absent again than back in the squad, opening up another start for Stefan Ortega.

Manu Akanji made his comeback from his long-term injury late on against Everton, playing as a number six to see out the win, and he may be in line to