The Etihad Stadium and Manchester City lie in wait for Aston Villa on Saturday evening, as Tim Sherwood's FA Cup finalists look for more valuable points in their battle against the drop, whilst City will be looking to further their chances of a second placed finish in the Barclays Premier League.

It has certainly been a disappointing season for Manchester City as they have failed to defend the Premier League crown that they won so thrillingly last year.

A disastarous run post Christmas, when they were level on points with Chelsea, has left them in fourth place, 12 points off the top. They won't finish the season with any silverware, having been knocked out of the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League in early rounds.

Recent form hasn't been too impressive either. Before last weekend's 2-0 win over West Ham, City had lost four of their previous six Premier League games. An own goal from James Collins and a Sergio Aguero strike saw the Citizens take three points last time out, but there are still rumours about a possible departure for manager Manuel Pellegrini at the end of the season.

This season hasn't been all that kind to Aston Villa fans, either. A solid start was followed up with a terrible spell up to February, leading to the sacking of manager Paul Lambert.

Villa had scored the lowest amount of goals in England's top four leagues and lay in the relegation zone, with new manager Tim Sherwood knowing that he had a job on his hands. Sherwood took the bull by the horns and has done an excellent job turning Villa around, leading them out of the drop zone and just a few points from guarenteed safety.

After the new manager honeymoon period had slightly been deflated with losses to Manchester United and Swansea, Villa have turned things around and are three games unbeaten, compiling with last Sunday's 2-1 victory over Liverpool at Wembley, seeing the club make their first FA Cup Final in 15 years.

City defender Gael Clichy has spoken pre match, about the importance of finishing the season on a high: "We can't give up and we are playing for the future of the club, for our futures and for our supporters who deserve the best. We want to finish the season on a high and take that into next seaon when we aim t come back playing the way we know we can consistently."

Tim Sherwood has told his Villa players that they must take a brave approach going into the game: "We certainly have the belief that we can go to Man City and get something.

"There's an expectancy among our supporters now. We felt that at Wembley. I am telling the boys not to be scared and to get onthe football in tough areas of the field, recieve the ball and play.

"It's 11 v 11. We will have to play exceptionally well. If we do, I think we can get something there."

"We owe it to our fans and ourselves to end on a high," 

- Gael Clichy

Team news:

Gael Clichy faces a race against time to recover from his calf injury and make Manchester City's squad, whilst striker Stefan Jovetic is a doubt for the game due to a thigh problem. Vincent Kompany (hip) and James Milner (knee) are both touch and go.

The visitors will have the returning pair of Philippe Senderos and Aly Cissokho back in the squad, after they both completed a 90 minute U21 match against Newcastle on Monday. Nathan Baker (knee), Ciaran Clark (leg) and Alan Hutton (foot) will all be unavailable but Villa are hoping to be able to call upon Gabriel Agbonlahor, as the striker faces a late fitness test for the game.