Manchester City will play out their first game since the allegations from the Premier League about breaking Financial Fair Play with the champions set to welcome Aston Villa to the Etihad this Sunday afternoon.
This game took all the headlines on the last day of the season in the 2021/22 campaign, as Villa took a 2-0 lead into half time and almost handed Liverpool the Premier League title as a result. Nevertheless, a stunner from Rodri and two goals from Ilkay Gundogan forced a 3-2 win and City kept hold of their title.
In some ways, that game and everything before and after it could end up being relatively pointless if they cannot get past these incredibly serious allegations from the Premier League. Nevertheless, despite the attention surrounding the club, there is still a game to be played here and one in which if three points don't stay at the Etihad, Arsenal could well have one hand on the title.
Guardiola's men lost to Tottenham Hotspur last time out and this has now kept the gap at five points over Arsenal with the Gunners having a game extra to play. They failed to capitalise on Arsenal's loss to Everton, but with Manchester United drawing with Leeds United, the Citizens are still ahead of their Manchester rivals.
As for Villa, they head into this one off the back of a Midlands derby defeat to Leicester City, where four goals in a 4-2 win stunned Villa Park. It's still been a great start to Unai Emery's managerial campaign with the club in 11th and a healthy distance away from the bottom three.
City are still 1/5 to win this game and it should end up being a routine victory for Pep Guardiola's men. Riyad Mahrez 2+ shots on target is now boosted to 9/4 after another solid goalscoring return for him this season, while Erling Haaland to score a header is up at 7/1 - Haaland has scored 5 headers this season in the Premier League (from 25 total goals). Erling Haaland to score a hat trick is also at 8/1 and Haaland has scored 4 hat tricks in his last 9 home Premier League starts which in itself is already a record.
2+ shots on target each team in each half is also boosted to 11/1. Rodri, Gundogan, Luiz & Kamara each to make 1+ fouls is another popular RAB in this game at 7/4 and Bailey & Ramsey each to make 2+ fouls and Laporte, Mings & Konsa each to make 1+ fouls are other notable foul markets.