Liverpool already turned down a chance to get a much bigger gap, so they can't really afford to lose to Villa at this point, even a tie wouldn't be really ideal for them. They had a great season so far and I am pretty sure that we are going to end up with a much better situation here and could do a lot better on the long run as well. This is why I can see how Liverpool will put everything they have into this game and get a win.
1 match that is definitely a bit distracted because it coincides with UCL. Maybe some of us are a little unaware that there is an EPL match including me who just checked it, btw this result should be quite difficult to predict because the performance of both teams is quite strong, and a draw is also very feasible. So I will let this match play out and focus on the UCL match.
The problem faced by City is not easy as you said. They have to qualify for UCL in order to ensure they will still able to comply with the FFP rules. If they won't qualify for the UCL, they may be facing another sanction caused by they can't meet FFP.
They have to seriously focused in all of remaining competitions. Their target is not only to comeback against Madrid, but they have to secure UCL spot.
They can't really excuse to say A competition far important than B competition.