Man City eye title glory as United take on Villa

Pep Guardiola's side missed a chance to seal the title when they lost 2-1 against Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, but Marcos Alonso's late winner will only temporarily delay their celebrations. City are 13 points clear of second placed United, who have five games left including their trip to Villa Park.

United play three times over the coming week -- against Villa, Leicester and Liverpool -- and a defeat in any of those matches would seal the title for City before the leaders next play at Newcastle on Friday.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side would love to keep City waiting for the title as long as possible. The Europa League finalists also want to wrap up a second place finish, which would be their highest end of season position in the Premier League since Solskjaer took charge in December 2018.

But City have turned the title race into a procession since the new year and it is only a matter of time before they are crowned English champions for a third time in four seasons. Pep Guardiola's team have enjoyed a remarkable revival after a spluttering start to the season.

After a 1-1 draw at home to West Bromwich Albion in mid-December, City had won just five of their opening 12 Premier League games and started their next match at Southampton 11 points adrift of defending champions Liverpool. It was the worst start of Guardiola's managerial career, but since a transformative 3-1 victory at Chelsea on January 3, City have left their rivals trailing in their wake.

That was the start of a run of 18 successive wins in all competitions, a record sequence for an English top-flight club. They have also won their last 18 away games in all competitions, also a record a team from England's top tier. City's achievements have been even more impressive given the issues posed by a frantic fixture list amid the coronavirus pandemic.