Aston Villa vs. Manchester City: Full Preview, Live Stream, Start Time and More

Manchester City hopes to maintain or extend its narrow Premier League lead following a road clash with Aston Villa on Sunday. Four different players scored goals to lead the Citizens to an easy victory when the teams played earlier in the campaign.

City currently holds a two-point advantage over rival Manchester United in the table with 14 games left to play. A top division league title would be their first in 44 years, and beating out the Red Devils to make it happen would be all the sweeter.

The season hasn't been nearly as kind to Aston Villa. The Villans are sitting in 13th place, and any hopes of earning a European spot have faded away. Now they just have to avoid any extended slumps that could land them near the relegation zone.

Where: Villa Park in Birmingham, England

When: Sunday, Feb. 12 at 11 a.m. ET

Watch: Fox Soccer Channel and FoxSoccer.tv

Betting Odds: Manchester City -150, Aston Villa +395, Draw +260

Player to Watch for Aston Villa: Darren Bent

Bent has been Villa's only consistent offensive threat this season, scoring nine goals in 20 games. Without his production up front, the team would be in a lot worse shape, so his contributions can't be understated when literally every point counts in league play.

The veteran striker is in great form right now, with goals in four of his past five starts. Manchester City kept him under wraps in the first meeting, so he'll need to figure out some different ways to generate chances if Villa has any hope of pulling off an upset.

Player to Watch for Manchester City: Edin Dzeko

It appears Dzeko has finally broken out of his slump. The Bosnia and Herzegovina international hit a rough patch in December that carried into 2012, but with two goals in his last four games, he is finally back on track. That's great news for the City attack, which wasn't as effective during his dry spell.

Now that he's clicking on all cylinders again, don't be surprised if the goals start coming in bunches. Villa has allowed at least two goals in four consecutive matches, which makes Sunday's game a prime candidate for Dzeko to find the net a couple times.

Key Matchup: Shay Given vs. Joe Hart

Villa won't want to get embarrassed playing at home, so they'll likely employ a more conservative approach in the early going in an attempt to keep things close. In games like that, the goalkeepers take on an even greater importance than normal.

Given is coming off an emotional return to Newcastle United, so he should enter Sunday's game riding high. He was victimized four times in the first meeting and will be looking to have a much better performance this time around.

Manchester City continues to get superb play from Hart, who is one of the position's rising stars. He has never faced the pressure that will come with a title pursuit, however, so it will be interesting to see if he steps up over the next few months.

What They're Saying

Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish is starting to feel the heat after the team's poor play this season, according to ESPNsoccernet:

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"We have played 24 games this season, we have won six! Is this good enough? No. This is relegation form. Alex McLeish is not the man to lead Aston Villa.

"He had a full pre-season, was given £20million (approximately) to spend and has players of the calibre of Darren Bent, Gabby Agbonlahor and Stephen Ireland to work with (also the most promising batch of home-grown players produced in years).”

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Manchester City's official website reports Joe Hart has been named the team's player of the month for January:

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The City goalkeeper, who kept his twelfth clean sheet of the season against Fulham last Saturday, polled triple the votes runner-up Micah Richards received after a stunning January between the sticks.

David Silva finished third with Samir Nasri fourth and November's winner James Milner fifth. Hart's award completes a notable hat-trick for the Blues' England stars with Gareth Barry winning the December accolade.

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Prediction

Manchester City 2, Aston Villa 1