Aston Villa 1 Man City 0
Unai Emery’s side had won thirteen consecutive league games at Villa Park as they welcomed Man City to town for a midweek fixture. Pep Guardiola’s side were in danger of equalling their longest run without a win under the Spaniard, when they went four games without victory in 2017.
It had been a decade since Aston Villa last beat Man City, a feat that Unai Emery had never accomplished in his career when it came to facing Guardiola. The hosts started on the front foot in front of a packed stadium as Lucas Digne fired an early shot into the side netting.
John McGinn has turned into the Geppetto of this Villa team, he is the man pulling the strings in the heart of midfield. When he fed a pass to Leon Bailey, he drew the first save of the evening out of Ederson in the City goal.
The Scottish midfielder then found Pau Torres, who looked to bend one in the top corner but Ederson made a brilliant one-handed stop to deny him. Villa Park was bouncing, not used to seeing their team dominate Man City like this.
Credit: @AVFCOfficial
Foden found Haaland on the counter-attack and his shot into the bottom corner forced a good save from Martinez. Bernardo Silva then clipped a ball into the back post where the Norwegian met it with a header which the Villa keeper had to scramble across to save.
As the hosts came forward once again, Bailey tried his luck from distance and Ederson had to adjust to tip the swerving shot over the crossbar. The Gallagher brothers hadn’t felt under this much pressure since Blur regularly ran them close for the weekly number one in the charts.
Walker fouled Digne on the corner of the box and Luiz’s free kick found the head of Konsa but he could not keep his effort under the bar. Digne got to the byline and his cross found Luiz who headed into the bottom corner to make it one-nil.
The celebrations were short-lived as the assistant raised his flag for offside. It seemed the ball was out before the full back crossed it but there was certainly no offside in the move. The decisions we are seeing in the Premier League this season are nothing short of baffling.
As the second-half got underway, Aston Villa did not let up and almost scored when Bailey found McGinn on the edge of the box. He dummied a shot to leave Dias for dead but his right-footed shot went agonisingly wide of the far post.
Fortunately for the home faithful, they were finally to get the rewards they had deserved. Bailey cut inside from the right wing, leaving Gvardiol in his wake. As the defender tried to get back to tackle him, the Jamaican checked back onto his right foot and got a shot away.
Credit: @AVFCOfficial
His effort took a huge deflection off Dias and wrong-footed Ederson as it flew into the back of the net. There was a huge slice of luck for Unai Emery’s side but nothing more than they deserved in a game which had seen almost one-way traffic from the hosts.
Douglas Luiz almost made it two-nil but for the agility of Ederson who managed to block his effort at full stretch. Villa Park was a cauldron of noise as their fans were loving what they were seeing from their team.
As Aston Villa continued to press, looking for a goal to seal the points, Luiz tried to bend one into the top corner from distance. Ederson was beaten but his shot came crashing back off the post to keep Pep Guardiola’s side in the game.
The final whistle was greeted with huge cheers as Aston Villa leapfrogged Man City in the table to go into third place, behind Liverpool and Arsenal. A graceful Pep Guardiola said in his post-match interview said ‘the better team won’. It was a huge result for Unai Emery’s side.
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