Aston Villa hoping to shock City

Aston Villa will be hoping Darren Bent can inspire them to get a much-needed win against title-chasing Manchester City.

The Villa board sanctioned an £18 million move to sign Bent from Sunderland in a transfer that could have raised some eyebrows as the England striker swapped chasing for Europe at the Stadium of Light for a Villa side only sitting outside of the relegation places on goal difference.

Goals have been incredibly hard to come by for Gerard Houllier's side this season but Bent is a proven goalscorer – he got 25 last season, has 11 goals already this season and is 6/1 with bookmakers to break his Villa duck on his debut.

Villa need to halt their dismal run of recent form and Bent could be the catalyst to help do that. The team have only won one of their last 10 league matches and that has seen them plummet down into a relegation battle and they are priced at 11/4 to win on Saturday evening.

Houllier's other new signing Jean Makoun has not received international clearance to be able to play. Villa will welcome back Ashley Young after he completed his ban, but Emile Heskey is serving the last-game of his suspension.

What could be promising for Villa is breaking through a Manchester City defence that has gone from two clean sheets in a row to conceding five goals against Wolves and Leicester – who are not the two most potent teams in the country.

City beat Villa 4-0 back in December and are chasing their rivals Manchester City for the title. They possess a multi-million pound strike force that Villa's defence will have to be on top form to content with, though the facts show they have not kept a clean sheet in 12 match.

The likes of Carlos Tevez and Edin Dzeko up front for City can pose massive problems for even the finest defences, so former City defender Richard Dunne will have to marshal the back-line to stand up against their millionaire visitors – who are 23/20 to win the game.

City boss Roberto Mancini is expected to recall Gareth Barry, Dzeko, Nigel de Jong and Kolo Toure to the side after they were rested for the FA Cup game as he looks to take all three points to ensure they put the pressure on United at the top of the Premier League.

Villa need to turn a corner if they want to climb the table and put some space between themselves and the bottom three, so many fans will be keeping their fingers crossed that Bent can be the man to provide a spark to ignite their faltering season.