Aston Villa v Manchester City: match preview Villa (Probable, 4-4-2): Given; Hutton, Collins, Dunne, Warnock; Ireland, Clark, Petrov, N'Zogbia; Keane, Bent. Out: Herd (ankle). Tests: Agbonlahor (back/hamstring), Albrighton (thigh), Collins (calf). Manchester City (Probable, 4-2-3-1): Hart; Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy; De Jong, Barry; Silva, Agüero, Milner; Dzeko. Tests: Nasri (groin). Aston Villa are hopeful of having a trio of players back for visit of leaders Manchester City. Striker Gabriel Agbonlahor, winger Marc Albrighton and central defender James Collins have all made good progress towards fitness during the past week. Midfielder Chris Herd remains the only long-term casualty. Striker Robbie Keane will make his final home appearance before returning to the Los Angeles Galaxy. Manchester City captain and defender Vincent Kompany is available while Samir Nasri is also in contention after leaving the field with a groin injury in last week's defeat of Fulham. Striker Mario Balotelli is again missing as he completes a four-match suspension while midfielder Yaya Toure and defender Kolo Toure are still at the African Nations Cup. Manchester City's last away game ended in defeat at Everton and with one win from six away games in all competitions, they could be forgiven for questioning their title capabilities. But, in Aston Villa, they face a team that has kept just one clean sheet in their last 11 games. Given that City could be in second place by the time they travel to the midlands, they will be in no mood to relinquish more away points. Betting: Home 18-5, Away 8-13, Draw 5-2. Stat of the game: City are the first team in the top flight to score 63 goals in the first 24 games since Spurs and Arsenal (65) in 1963-64. John Ley's prediction: Aston Villa 0 Manchester City 1