Man City lost their first match since August and Erling Haaland had his 12 match scoring streak cut short as Man City lost 1-0 to Aston Villa at Villa Park yesterday. The loss takes them down to 5th on the table, 6 points behind leaders Arsenal.
Pep Guardiola rang the changes from their 2-0 win over Villarreal in the Champions League. Oscar Bobb, Tijani Reijnders and Phil Foden all came into the XI in place of Nico Gonzalez, Rico Lewis and Jeremy Doku. Unai Emery also made multiple changes after Villa’s shock 2-1 loss to Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League. Evan Guessand, Jadon Sancho, Ian Maatsen, Victor Lindelof and Tyrone Mings were all replaced by the more usual starters in Matty Cash, Lucas Digne, Boubacar Kamara, Ezri Konsa and John McGinn.
The match started with Manchester City immediately applying an intense high press and looking composed in possession. However, City defender Josko Gvardiol made an early mistake with a misplaced pass that went straight out of play. In the 2nd minute, Aston Villa registered a near miss when Emiliano Buendía hit a volley from outside the box that sailed over the bar. City responded in the 6th minute with their first chance of note, as Tijjani Reijnders hit a powerful shot from range that went narrowly over the crossbar.
Lucas Digne took a shot in the box in the 16th minute but it was blocked and Villa persisted in attack, winning a corner two minutes later from which the only goal of the game arrived in the 19th minute. Matty Cash received a low pass from Emiliano Buendía following a short corner routine. Cash took a touch and unleashed a superb left-footed strike from the edge of the box into the bottom corner, giving Aston Villa the lead. Just two minutes later, in the 21st minute, Erling Haaland missed the kind of chance that we all expect him to score these days as his shot when clean through on goal was easily saved by Emiliano Martínez.
Around the 29th minute, Villa were forced into an early substitution as Emiliano Buendía came off due to a foot injury and was replaced by Jadon Sancho. Shortly after, around the 30th minute, Villa nearly doubled their lead when John McGinn had a low strike deflected wide for a corner. Around the 35th minute, Manchester City appealed for a handball inside the Villa box, but the referee waved play on. City’s Savinho received the first yellow card of the match in the 40th minute for a reckless challenge. Aston Villa took their 1-0 lead into the break.
City came into the second half with a clear intent to get the equalizer with Phil Foden and Tijani Reijnders testing their luck with shots from inside the box that was blocked and one from outside the box that went wide. They continued to press for the goal and Savinho had a shot blocked in the box in the 58th minute. Just after the hour mark, around the 60th minute, City were denied an equalizer by a crucial, miraculous goal line clearance from Pau Torres, who deflected a shot from Savinho away for a corner. In the 61st minute, City made a triple tactical substitution, bringing on Jérémy Doku for Oscar Bobb, Nico O’Reilly for John Stones, and Nico González for Bernardo Silva.
Around the 69th minute, Villa nearly scored a second when Jadon Sancho broke through, but his follow-up shot after an initial spill was denied by a fantastic double save from City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. Villa made a double substitution in the 74th minute, with Ross Barkley replacing John McGinn and Evann Guessand replacing Jadon Sancho (who had been a substitute himself). City made another change in the 76th minute, as Rayan Cherki came on for Tijjani Reijnders.
Boubacar Kamara received a yellow card for Villa in the 81st minute for a foul. City made their final substitution in the 84th minute, with Omar Marmoush replacing Savinho. Villa then made a double substitution around the 86th minute, bringing on Ian Maatsen for Lucas Digne and Donyell Malen for Ollie Watkins.
In the 89th minute, City thought they had equalized when Erling Haaland slid in to score from a cross by Omar Marmoush, but the goal was immediately ruled out for offside against Marmoush in the build-up. Haaland clattered the post hard in the process. In stoppage time, Villa ensured the win with a heroic block by Amadou Onana on a Phil Foden shot.
The match ended with the Full Time whistle, confirming a 1-0 victory for Aston Villa, which secured their fourth straight league victory and ended City’s nine-match unbeaten run. City will look to bounce back in their next fixture, a match against Swansea in the EFL cup while Aston Villa take on Liverpool in the league next time out.
