Hello and welcome to live coverage of Manchester City vs Aston Villa.

After some extended possession, Clichy curls in a cross from the left. Eventually it's put out for a corner.

Clichy whips in an early cross for Bony in the centre. He gets the side of his foot to it, but it's sliced just wide of the post.

Navas has a cross blocked on the right. Navas takes the corner, but Otamendi's header carries it away. Hutton breaks down the right, and his cross is cleared.

Fernandinho clips a diagonal ball for Aguero, behind the defence. Two excellent touches give him an open view of goal, and Guzan tips away his shot from close range.

Aguero picks up a loose ball outside the box. He drives into the penalty area and as he looks to shoot, Lescott lunges in to concede a corner with a well timed tackle. Nothing from the corner.

Richards goes through the back of Aguero on the wing, and he is also allowed to go about his business without a yellow.

Bony wins a corner off Cissokho on the right wing. Navas's corner is headed out. Villa break with Hutton down the right, into the penalty box, and eventually Clichy clears off the full-back to earn a goal kick.

Even more City possession, even more Villa defending in their own half.

City are struggling to find an opening so far.

Bony's loose pass means Kompany has to barge into Ayew on the halfway line. He is lucky not to be booked.

City dominate possession now, with Villa stuck in their own half.

The match gets underway.

The players are on the pitch, and there's five minutes until kick off. There are flags and all sorts going on. Snazzy.

You can tweet me at @lxndrnthrtn if you have comments on the match. Let me know your predictions.

Villa start with three at the back today, while there are also reports that half of the Villa players have rejected their manager's ideas. Those players might like to consider where their attitude has got them the last few years.

And one of the Villa warm up.

A clip of the City 'boys'.

Manuel Pellegrini: "The most important thing is to recover our performance in the Premier League, (and show) the performance we showed in the last two games in the Champions League and the Capital One Cup, and try to win as many points as we can. I am not thinking about the title and not thinking about not to qualify for the Champions League. It is important to think in the next game (at home to Aston Villa) we need to win because we lost the last three in the Premier League."

"We couldn't have made a worse start," said Aston Villa manager Remi Garde after their midweek defeat in which they conceded early on. "In football, 30 per cent of goals are scored in set-pieces. This is part of the game. I don't want to blame any one player. We all have to do better. We conceded an early goal against (Manchester) City in the cup, one against Liverpool was at a set-piece and another one here (against Everton). Sometimes I think the way you defend at set-pieces and the commitment you put at set-pieces is very important. It's not a question of tactics, it's the desire to clear the ball."

TEAMS: Manchester City: Hart, Sagna, Kompany (C), Otamendi, Clichy, Toure, Fernandinho, Navas, Silva, Bony, Aguero. Subs: Caballero, Zabaleta, Mangala, Kolarov, M.Garcia, Sterling, Iheanacho. /// Aston Villa: Guzan, Richards, Lescott, Clark, Hutton, Cissokho, Vertout, Westwood, Gana, Agbonlahor, Ayew. Subs: Bunn, Okore, Bacuna, Sinclair, Gil, Lyden, Gestede.