Aston Villa boss Dean Smith plots his own way to topple City

Villa will be the first team to visit the Etihad Stadium in the league since Wolves’ 2-0 triumph earlier this month.

Smith admits the success of Nuno Espirito Santo is something from which his own team and others can take heart.

But he does not believe that result necessarily provided a blueprint for getting the better of Pep Guardiola’s men.

“I don’t have Wolves’ players. I’ve got Aston Villa’s players,” said the boss. “Each team that goes to teams like Manchester City or Liverpool, you will have your own style and ways you believe you can win.

“I think if you go all out attacking, they have players who can pick you off. There has to be defensive discipline, but you have to remain a threat as well. The only way you win matches is scoring goals.”

City have not lost back-to-back Premier League matches at home since February 2016 and remain a fearsome proposition, hammering Watford 8-0 on their own patch only last month.

Smith, who has studied all of their recent games, joked that he had turned off the video of that match ‘after 19 minutes!’

He added: “You can look at it two ways. You can approach it and think ‘Oh no, we are going to Manchester City’ or you can see it as a great opportunity to go and show what we are about. Hopefully our players will take the latter view.

“We are going out against a very good team. You have to concentrate and work hard. But they are human, just like us.

“It is not like we are going there to take on a superhuman team, even if they might look like it at times. It is a team which can make mistakes and when they do, you have to punish them.”