Villa and City battling for seventh spot

With both Aston Villa and Manchester City still harbouring hopes of taking seventh place in the Barclays Premier League and with it a UEFA Cup spot for next season, this game was far from a meaningless, end-of-season affair.

Villa boss David O’Leary made three changes to the side hammered 5-1 at Tottenham last Sunday, with Thomas Sorensen replacing Stefan Postma in goal after recovering from illness.