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Manchester
City will be at Villa Park on Saturday in the hope of securing a win
that will keep them in close contact with Premier League leaders
Manchester United, and in the process further compound the woes of
their hosts who have been far from impressive this season.

City are level with
United at the top of the table, but the Red Devils have two games in
hand on the Citizens, meaning City have to keep picking up full points
if they are to stay in the title race. And considering the outcome of
their last encounter with Aston Villa at the end of December, which
ended in a 4-0 win for City with Mario Balotelli grabbing a hat-trick,
Roberto Mancini’s side, at least on paper, look good enough to inflict
another loss on Gerard Houllier’s side; a loss that could send 17th
placed Villa into the relegation zone.

But a lot has
happened at Aston Villa over the past couple of days as they can now
count on the service of Darren Bent who recently completed a massive 18
million pounds switch from Sunderland, and looks set to make his Villa
debut on Saturday.

Bent arrives at
Villa Park with an impressive scoring record – he scored eight of
Sunderland’s 26 Premier League goals this term – and, according to
Houllier, has a knack of finding the back of the net when he starts
afresh at clubs.

“Regarding his
debut, all I can say is that he has a good habit, that when he starts
somewhere, he scores,” said Houllier, who is hopeful history can repeat
itself on Saturday at Villa Park.

The Frenchman then
added: “Maybe a warning to Roberto Mancini and Manchester City, but if
he starts, maybe he will score.” Maybe, but the 26-year-old appears
keen to hit the ground running and instantly repay the Aston Villa
management for splashing such a huge amount for his services.

“I want to help
Villa get some points on the board. They are in a false position. They
have shown great faith in me, which I’m very proud of,” Bent said.

But City have the
stingiest backline in the Premier League – they have been breached only
19 times – and don’t look like a side ready to concede a goal to this
Villa side.

Birmingham face unbeaten United

Another side with
a mean defence is Manchester United and they will be aiming to maintain
their push for a record 19th league title with a win at Old Trafford
over a Birmingham City side that has not won a game at the Theatre of
Dreams since 1978.

United remain the
only unbeaten side in the Premier League, but will be without the
services of Rafael, who was given a red card in the scoreless draw with
Tottenham.

The last time both sides met at Old Trafford ended in a 1-0 win for United with Wayne Rooney grabbing the only goal of the game.

But Rooney has
scored just twice in the league this season. However, the visitors will
have a bigger problem to deal with in the form of Dimitar Berbatov who
tops the league’s scorers chart with 14 goals, and has set his sights
on finishing the season that way.

“I hope I can stay
on the top (of the scoring charts) until the end of the season,” the
Bulgarian said. “Obviously the goals I score help the team to win
points, which is the most important thing.

“For now everything
is going according to plan but there are other players doing well, and
not just (Manchester City’s) Carlos Tevez. It is a good competition but
when you are at the top, you always look back to see who is coming
behind you.” Elsewhere, Liverpool will attempt to arrest their
three-match ‘winless’ slide on a trip to meet the Wolves; Arsenal will
continue their pursuit of United with a game against lowly Wigan, who
will be without the injured Victor Moses.