Sunday afternoon sees two arch rivals in Aston Villa and Birmingham City once again renew their rivalry, in the first meeting between the two sides in the 2018/19 campaign.

It's bound to be a cracker at Villa Park, as for the first time in a few years, both sides will be looking to secure an important three points at the right end of the table.

Dean Smith's men sit just one place above Garry Monk's Blues, but with the two sides on the same points, there is an extremely valuable three points up for grabs this weekend.

It's bound to be a fiery, tight contest at Villa Park this weekend, as is the norm with local derbies, and both sides will be relying on their creative players to find a killer pass and play an influential role in their side's victory.

In this case, Villa will be depending on Jack Grealish, whilst Birmingham will be relying on Jota.

The stats probably don't tell the whole story in Grealish's case - the 23-year old has scored just one goal and has produced two assists in 17 games for the Villans this term, but he often plays the pass before the assist.

The Spaniard Jota, on the other hand, is finally coming tnto his own at St. Andrew's this season - the 27-year old found it tough in the West Midlands following his £6million arrival from Brentford last term, but has had an impressive season so far - scoring once and setting up five goals in 17 matches.

Both players may not have the greatest amount of pace, but their technical ability makes up for it - they both produce an average of 2.1 key passers per game, whereas Grealish has the upper hand on average dribbles per game as well as average shots per game.

Both sides will be desperate a win, for their league position as well as bragging rights, and both of these will have an influential impact on their side's performances this weekend.