The 9th round of the 2025/26 Premier League season will feature another key match, with Manchester City travelling to face Aston Villa. Manchester City manager Guardiola said Aston Villa is a difficult opponent and he admires their manager Unai Emery very much.

Thanks to Haaland's brace, Manchester City beat Everton 2-0 at home in the last round of the league, achieving a record of 4 wins and 1 draw in the last 5 rounds.

In the earlier Champions League, Manchester City relied on goals from Haaland and Bernardo Silva to beat Villarreal 2-0 and successfully maintain their unbeaten record.

As for Aston Villa, Emery's team defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in the 8th round of the Premier League, but lost to Go Ahead Eagles 1-2 in the 3rd round of the Europa League.

Manchester City manager Guardiola said: "In our last two games at Villa Park, they performed much better than us. I hope it will be different this time. I admire Emery very much. He is extremely stable, always well prepared, and very smart. He is really outstanding. Last season, Aston Villa failed to qualify for the Champions League by just one point."

"They caused a lot of problems for Paris Saint-Germain, the Champions League champions, so this team is well-organised and has a lot of quality. They have everything. So this is undoubtedly one of the toughest away games we have played all season."

In addition, when talking about Nunes's playing position, Guardiola said, "Nunes can become an incredible right-back. He is a defensive midfielder with amazing physical qualities. As long as he stays focused, he can become one of the best right-backs."

"It's more of a mentality thing and we talk about it a lot, so it's about changing the mindset and making him believe he can play well there. He has great ability out wide and his performances in the last two or three games have been incredible."

When talking about the championship situation, Guardiola said, "I know that commentators, experts and former players always like to judge everything after 5 rounds, but I can't do it. We seemed to be unfavorable after the first two or three games, and now everyone thinks Liverpool has no chance, but I tell you, they will definitely come back."

"Usually you have to wait 10 to 15 games before you can really see the situation. It's clear that Liverpool and Arsenal will be in the title race, and other teams will also join the competition and hopefully we will be in it as well."