Manchester City expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany has talked up the narrative of Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford potentially haunting the Citizens while wearing the Claret and Blue of Aston Villa in Tuesday's intriguing Premier League showdown at the Etihad Stadium.
After falling down the pecking order under Ruben Amorim at Old Trafford, Rashford joined Villa on loan in January in a bid to reignite his career, and he has impressed under the tutelage of Unai Emery.
Rashford has chipped in with three goals and six assists in 16 appearances for the Lions across all competitions and in recent matches has been preferred to lead the line over Ollie Watkins.
The 27-year-old came on as a second-half substitute in Villa's impressive 4-1 home win over Newcastle United last weekend and will be pushing to start, either in place of Watkins or alongside him, on Tuesday night.
Rashford has scored six goals against Man City as a Man United player, including three strikes at the Etihad; only against Leicester (eight) and Liverpool (seven) has the attacker scored more goals against an opponent in his entire career.
'Rashford's always given Man City trouble'
McInerney believes that Villa have a plethora of players who can cause problems for Man City, and he has suggested that every manager would make the "easy" decision to turn to an on-loan rival of the opposition - in this case Rashford - to deliver the goods.
"[Aston Villa have] got so much quality, the kind of players that have caused City problems all season," McInerney told Sports Mole. "Rashford will probably do well against us as an ex-United boy.
"Morgan Rodgers, the (ex-City) academy lad, turned brilliant. He's done this big time already this season. [Marco] Asensio [too], there's just so much quality. They're a really good side Aston Villa."
Asked whether Man City would prefer to face either Rashford or Watkins, McInerney said: "Rashford's always given us trouble. I think I'd rather face...probably Watkins. I'm a firm believer in narratives. I think Rashford will probably play. He'll probably play on the left. I think he'll probably play both of them to be honest.
"There's not a manager in the world who won't try and play the: 'You're a United player who's on loan against City' card. They all choose that card because it's easy."
'It'd be silly not to utilise' Khusanov's pace against Villa
McInerney believes that it would be "silly" for Pep Guardiola to not call upon centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov, who has the "incredible recovery pace" to cope with the threat of both Rashford and Watkins.
"Khusanov has been out of the team for a few games now, which is a surprise given he was absolutely excellent," said McInerney. "But Khusanov has got a story left to write in the rest of the season and Villa is the kind of game that would suit him.
"At home, he'd have a lot of the ball, but his recovery pace is remarkable, and Villa with Rashford, if he plays, and Watkins, they're sort of smart runners while also having pace as well. Khusanov would 100% be in my side for that game, given his exceptional physicality.
"I think it's something that we could see against Palace that we missed. I think he gets back and maybe stops that cross, given his pace, for the first goal. Maybe the mistake still happens, but I think he's got such an incredible recovery pace that it'd be silly against Villa not to utilise it."
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Can Gonzalez's physicality counter Tielemans's quality?
Meanwhile, McInerney has urged Guardiola to select fellow January signing Nico Gonzalez in midfield to nullify the threat of Villa's powerful midfield that is set to include in-form star Youri Tielemans.
"He's fantastic. He's in the form of his life," McInerney said about Villa's No.8. "He really suits Emery's style and he looks sharper than he ever has done. He's a quality player and obviously very experienced these days as well.
"I always expect City to play Nico Gonzalez with a little bit of physicality to counter that, because I don't think we can play Bernardo Silva, [Ilkay] Gundogan, [Mateo] Kovacic. There's not enough legs there with Rogers and Tielemans and [Amadou] Onana. It's just too powerful that midfield.
"I think we do have to play Nico Gonzalez and I think we have to be aggressive on Tielemans, because he has the qualities to find the runner and there'll be plenty trying to get behind City's pretty porous backline."
McInerney has also shared his thoughts on the importance of Tuesday's contest in the race to finish in the top five of the Premier League and qualify for next season's Champions League.
At the time of writing, Man City sit fourth in the Premier League table, but seventh-placed Aston Villa could move two points above them and climb up to third if they beat the Citizens at the Etihad.
Press play on the video at the top of this article to hear the full discussion ahead of Man City's clash with Aston Villa.
Oliver Thomas
