It's been an excellent week already for Pep Guardiola, after a Saturday night takeaway at Leicester and then Wednesday's wonderful win in Madrid - achieved with Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero starting on the bench!
What will happen at Wembley on Sunday?
Liam Corless gives his verdict.
Win, lose or draw?
Anything can happen in a one-off game but City should win and they should win handsomely. The Blues smashed six past Villa in the league recently and will be full of confidence going into the game after beating Real Madrid. Thepools.com have City as short as 1/7 to win . Villa to even draw in 90 minutes is a big 7/1 while the shock Villa victory is an enormous 18/1 .
Who's a good bet for 1st scorer?
Pep Guardiola praised Sergio Aguero and City's other benched players for how they reacted to being named as substitutes against Madrid, but there is no doubt the Argentine will have been hugely disappointed not to have started.
He'll be hungry for goals after seeing Gabriel Jesus bag one in midweek and it will be a big surprise if he doesn't make the line-up for this one. Aguero is 9/5 to score the first goal at Wembley and 2/5 to score at any time .
Who's on pens?
After his clinical effort at the Bernabeu, it's got to be Kevin De Bruyne. He's 13/2 to score the first goal , which is a good price.
Will City keep a clean sheet?
They didn't keep in any in their first five games of 2020 but have managed four in their last seven games. Aymeric Laporte's absence is a blow, though, and Villa have scored at least once in nine of their 10 games in 2020. A Man City win and Both Teams To Score is a great 7/4 tip while a straightforward Both Teams To Score is a solid 5/4 .
Yellow card?
This is always a difficult one to predict considering a caution can come from anything, but City have developed a reputation for making tactical fouls, which are commonly committed to stop counter-attacks.
No City player has been booked more times than Ilkay Gundogan this season (seven), and Rodri (six) and Fernandinho (five) are not far behind him. Whoever plays at the base of midfield - most likely Rodri - is a good bet.
