Man City visit Villa, their most profitable opponents, riding crest of points wave

By Brian Sears

10 February 2012

Manchester City visit Villa Park on Sunday 12 points better off after 24 games than ever before in their Premier League history.

City’s previous best at this stage of a season was the 45 points from 24 games last season when they finished third. They have 57 now.

As City’s circumstances have waxed so Aston Villa’s have waned.

Details of their positions in previous seasons at this stage are in the graphic below as is a graph showing City’s recent surge in average first-pay team compared to Villa’s, which indicates where some of City’s improvement has come from.

Three seasons ago Villa had gained as many as 48 points from 24 games but now they are in 13th place with 20 points fewer.

To add City insult to Villa injury, Villa have provided City with the highest points harvest of any club they have met in the Premier League: 53 points in total, from 29 meetings.

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