Leeds vs Aston Villa LIVE: Result and reaction from Premier League fixture tonight
Follow all the action live from Elland Road
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Follow all the action as Leeds welcome Aston Villa to Elland Road in the Premier League this afternoon.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side are in high spirits after a dominant 3-0 victory against Southampton last time out, with Patrick Bamford adding a 13th league goal to his tally this season. That victory saw Leeds move 13 points clear of the relegation zone and they are now just five points adrift of sixth-placed Liverpool in what has been a brilliant first season back in the top flight.
Aston Villa, meanwhile, will be wary of succumbing to a slump in the absence of their talisman, Jack Grealish. The captain’s shin injury has seen him miss the last two matches, with Villa lucky to take a point against Brighton before losing against Leicester last weekend. Dean Smith’s side remain in a terrific position in the table, though, and a top-six finish is certainly within reach, trailing Liverpool by just four points while also boasting two games in hand. Follow all the action live below:
Man City 0 - 0 West Ham
Kick off: West Ham kick off the match. Man City will move 13 points clear of Man Utd if they claim all three points today.
The teams make their way out onto the pitch. We’re expecting Manchester City to dominate possession and try to break through West Ham’s back five. The Hammers will look to capitalise on the counter-attack with Jesse Lingard and Michail Antonio, if they can score first it could turn into a decent match up.
Aguero’s return
Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne both start a game for Manchester City for the first time since February 2020. Aguero starts his first game for City since they last faced West Ham back in November.
Bad omens
David Moyes has gone 40 Premier League away games without a victory against established top-six opposition since his Everton side beat Manchester City in December 2010. There have been 12 draws and 28 defeats in that run.
Moyes is winless in his eight competitive fixtures as a manager versus Pep Guardiola, losing all four away matches.
Fabianski injury
David Moyes confirms that Lukasz Fabianski took a knock to his arm in training and misses the game today because of the injury. Darren Randolph replaces him in goal for his second Premier League appearance of the season after facing Everton on January 1st.
Overachieving Hammers?
West Ham have won seven of their nine Premier League games in 2021. The Hammers are in the top four after 25 top-flight matches for the first time since 1986, when they finished third.
A seventh away win of the season this Saturday would equal the club’s Premier League record for a single campaign, last achieved in 2015/16.
Attacking threat
Ilkay Gündogan has scored nine Premier League goals in 2021, four more than any other player. Raheem Sterling has been involved in 14 goals in 15 Premier League appearances against West Ham, scoring eight and setting up six but he starts on the bench today.
Solid defence
Manchester City have not trailed at any point in their last 17 league fixtures, conceding just four goals
The only goal conceded by Man City in their last 11 competitive home fixtures was a Ruben Dias own goal in a 1-1 draw against West Brom on 15th December.
Moyes on Man City
West Ham boss, David Moyes, says Man City are one of the top three teams in the world at the minute and that it’ll be a big ask to take anything from them today. In a pre-match press conference he said:
If you’re talking about challenging Manchester City, you’re talking about challenging a team in the top three in the world. That’s a big ask for any team. We’ll try and take Man City on in some way and try and cause them difficulties, but you need to be football stupid not to understand the quality that Man City have got and how they’re playing at this moment in time.
"I think everybody knows the quality of Manchester City. We’ve seen it week-in, week-out at the moment. They’ve got a really difficult schedule because of the amount of games they’ve got. We have to try and make the most of having a chance to prepare for the games, be as good as we can be, and go there in a positive mindset. We’ve tried to play well against all the teams and do the best we can."
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