Sky Sports have reported that Manchester City’s star striker Sergio Aguero has been ruled out of tonight’s crunch clash with Aston Villa. The away side will be travelling to the Etihad with nothing to lose and have already inflicted defeat on Manuel Pelligrini’s side earlier in the season when they triumphed 3-2 at Villa Park. So just how significant will the absence of the Argentinian prove to be?
Aguero is one of the finest forwards in world football, let alone the Premier League and it is the ability to make something happen out of nothing that separate players like him and Luis Suarez from the rest of the field. Despite his injury problems, the 25-year-old has still managed to notch an impressive 16 goals from just 21 Premier League appearances.
City have a wealth of talent in their squad and even without Aguero, they can still call on players such as David Silva or Yaya Toure – the latter of which I believe to be currently the finest midfielder in world football.
Villa revel playing away with home and have the necessary personnel to hurt City on the counter attack. The home side are going to dominant possession, but it will be a moment of magic or a piece of good fortune that is going to break the deadlock. Once this happens, I expect the floodgates to open.
The longer Villa can hold out, the edgier City will become. In any game the opening goal is always crucial, but in tonight’s clash it will be more important than ever. However even without Aguero I still expect City to be too strong for Paul Lambert’s men.