Key Man City duo to miss midweek Aston Villa clash following yellow cards v Tottenham

Manchester City will be without two key players for the midweek Premier League trip to Aston Villa.

The Blues dropped points for a third league game in a row on Sunday as they drew 3-3 against Tottenham Hotspur, with Dejan Kulusevski’s 90th-minute header salvaging a point for Spurs.

After a tough run of games against Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs, now it’s a trip to Villa Park on Wednesday to face an Unai Emery side who have won 13 consecutive home league matches. They’ll also have to face Villa without Rodri and Jack Grealish.

Both players picked up bookings in the draw at the Etihad, their fifth respectively in the league this season, meaning neither will be available for selection in the West Midlands. Rodri’s absence is the biggest blow for Pep Guardiola, and the champions lost all three games when the Spaniard was suspended earlier this season.

The one-match ban also coincides with John Stones’ injury and Guardiola recently claimed City would be ‘in trouble’ if they set up without Rodri and Stones in the XI, although the latter could come back into the team against Villa and was on the bench for Sunday’s game.

Stones hasn't played since 7 November, with Guardiola revealing last week that the England international needs to undergo strength training on a recurring hip injury.

As for Grealish, it means for the third year in a row since his £100m move to City, the winger won’t start at Villa Park. His lack of availability is only compounded by Jeremy Doku’s injury and the Belgian was forced to come off in the second half of Sunday’s game due to a knock.

The 3-3 draw leaves City second in the table and three points behind leaders Arsenal. As for Villa, they drew away to Bournemouth on Sunday and are fourth in the table, just a point behind the champions.