Aston Villa blogger Matthew Turvey believes a positive attitude laced with realism will be needed when the claret and blues make the trip to moneybags Manchester City.

So this weekend things suddenly get tougher, as Aston Villa make the trip to the Etihad Stadium, formerly known as Eastlands.

After a fairly pedestrian opening series of fixtures, Manchester City are likely to provide significantly more of a test for Alex McLeish’s men.

That said, City are shorn of Mario Balotelli, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez. But when a team has David Silva, Samir Nasri, and Edin Dzeko, they are hardly struggling for talent.

Silva specifically showed during his performance for Spain against Scotland that he clearly knows how to pull strings and would improve any team either here in England, or in the wider world.

So with such a galaxy of stars available for a cash-rich City, the view amongst Villa fans, which recently has been fairly sombre, may actually be a tad more pragmatic without intention.

Now before you consider that, to sound a tad backward, it’s worthwhile thinking about it. Given that City are dominating most teams so heavily, Villa really have nothing to lose besides some goal difference.

Expectation, for the most part, won’t be weighing on the shoulders of Villa’s squad as ,whilst they are capable of coming out of the game with something, most would be happy with simply not being beaten heavily.

From that lack of expectation comes a freedom. If you’re expected to lose, then the worst that can happen is you lose. Many teams will lose to City, especially at the Etihad. Losing to City is no big humiliation.

That isn’t to say that I actually WANT Villa to lose. On the contrary, I’d like three points from every game. Of course, that isn’t necessarily going to happen, but it’s good to aim high.

I hasten to add there that my view is not consonant with expecting three points from every match, merely aiming for it.

Expectation of success cultivates prospective disappointment, whereas aiming for success is only ambitious.

Few would argue that being ambitious is a bad objective. After all, if you give up trying, just how can you ever expect to turn the corner and become successful?

Which leads me on to my analysis of perspective and opinions amongst fans. In essence, all of our lives as supporters comes down to our perception of reality.

I’m not seeing any different results than any other Villa fan, but often I feel I am interpreting said results differently. The only difference between me and another Villa fan is how I feel a day-to-day as a result.

I’m not suggesting that I am riding along on a wave of delirium when we concede a late goal at Queens Park Rangers, but, conversely, I’m not reaching for the anti-depressants either.

What I am doing is looking at reality not opinion. Opinion and reality are often confused.

Ask someone their view on what is going on in their lives, or in the lives of Aston Villa, and often what is said isn’t the truth – it is purely a perspective based on selective facts. There’s a massive difference.

For example, look at the recent hiring of  McLeish. To say that people are split over that would be an understatement.

For some, McLeish is a manager who gets relegated with English clubs. For others, he is a cup winner in England and a league winner in Scotland. Both views take facts and reality before distorting them.

Whilst both statements are true, it would be very easy to write a piece on both sides of the fence, exhibiting personal bias and opinion in order to cultivate a view that we call our own.

Is that view reality? Probably not, but we are very quick to cling to these views. Often we blur the lines between reality and opinion – we convince ourselves that others are ‘wrong’ and we are ‘right.’

Another set of ambiguous concepts which only serve to divide. So I’ll stick to the facts. Everyone is entitled to a view on whether we will win, draw, or lose on Saturday.

However, we’d all do well to realise that is all we have – opinions. Mine is that we could sneak something but, perhaps to others derision, I’m not going to put money on it.

We will be up against it against a cash-rich Manchester City but, just because the odds seem stacked against us, it doesn’t mean we have to give up.

It’s not easy pressing on with things, but it is far better for us than being miserable. All we can do is face our situations and do our best.

Times may get tough, but these are our challenges. Often we can’t change the situations, only our attitude towards them.

Which leads me on to a final item. On Saturday August 8 at 11:10pm, the world lost a real star in 11-year-old Harry Moseley.

Premier League footballers may well dazzle us with their talents, but Harry deserves the true status of a star.

Here was a young lad who didn’t let bad situations or negativity affect his drive to do better for the world – for his family, for himself, and for all around him.

In the face of a challenge that makes football look trivial, Harry showed traits that taught us all something about how to live our lives, no matter our age or experience.

So the time comes now to knuckle down, and fight on. After all, the only alternative to putting ourselves into things whole-heartedly is simply admitting defeat.

Honour Harry and put your all into what you do. For once, this isn’t just about football, this is about life in general.

Life teaches you lessons, and I’m proud to say knowing Harry and his cause has taught me a lot even though I was almost three times his age.

Here’s to a sustained effort against City and here’s to Harry. You did us proud buddy and we’re very proud of you.