Manchester United remained well clear of their title rivals despite the 1-0 defeat to Wigan, but Red Devils will be hoping to keep the five-point advantage before they visit Etihad Stadium on 30th April.

Aston Villa stayed in the danger zone following the home draw against Stoke City and the Villans are in such a situation that they need to try and get something from this clash.

Manchester United may have struggled to keep up with Manchester City in the early stage of the season, but as usual, they saved the best for last and the eight-match winning run saw them create an eight-point cushion at the Premier League summit.

The huge advantage was decreased to five points as the Red Devils were deservedly beaten by relegation-threatened Wigan at DW Stadium, but Sir Alex Ferguson’s side are still considered hot favourites for the league title even if they have yet to play Manchester City at Etihad.

The Scottish manager will be looking for a response from his players and it is hardly surprising that Paddy Power pays just 1.25 (1/4) on home win.

The hosts have no fresh injury problems at the moment, but Paul Scholes is expected to return after he was rested against Wigan.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-1-1): De Gea – Rafael, Ferinand, Evans, Evra – Valencia, Scholes, Carrick, Nani – Rooney – Welbeck.

Aston Villa sit dangerously close to the relegation zone at the moment and even though the Villans are unlikely to go down, they could face a nervy couple of weeks unless they get something from this game.

After winning just one of their last ten Premier League games and taking just two points from last four, Alex McLeish’s side sit six points clear of the bottom three, but they cannot afford to relax just yet.

Failure to beat Stoke at Villa Park on Monday added an extra pressure on the players and with several first team regulars missing out, the Villans don’t look like they can get something from Old Trafford.

Darren Bent, Richard Dunne, Chris Herd, Marc Albrighton and Fabian Delph are all sidelined through injury, whereas Stephen Warnock is injury doubt.

The good news is that Carlos Cuellar and Charles N’Zogbia have returned into action, whereas Ciaran Clark and Nathan Delfouneso are also expected to be in contention.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Given – Hutton, Cuellar, Collins, Warnock – Gardner, Bannan – Agbonlahor, Ireland, N’Zogbia – Weimann.