Aston Villa 1-0 Manchester City
by Gene Syvester
at Villa Park

UNAI EMERY’S men have been in fine form of late, apart from a midweek blip in Europe that saw them beaten by Go Ahead Eagles, but Villains returned to winning ways to make it six wins in the last seven games with a 1-0 home win against title hopefuls Manchester City.

An 18th-minute strike proved to be enough to claim  all three points at Villa Park for the home team in a fixture where Pep Guardiola’s men have not had too much success in recent seasons.

The Citizens last win at Villa Park came in December 2021 with them having drawn one and lost the two previous matches here, so it was always going to be a tough task for Pep’s team.

“They are a Champions League team, they are unlucky not to be there this season but they are a Champions League team, a top top team. I admire them,” stated Guardiola following the final whistle.

At a time where much is being spoken about the increase in set-piece goals, the winner came from a well-worked corner routine which saw Lucas Digne play a short ball to Emiliano Buendia who fired a low pass across the edge of the penalty to Matty Cash.

The Villa right-back was able evade the attention of Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva before firing a left-footed reverse shot at the City goal that flew through a few bodies and into the bottom right-hand corner of the net, giving Gianluigi Donnarumma no chance in the away team’s goal.

The Citizens could have been level a couple of minutes later, when a long ball into Silva’s feet found the midfielders in acres of space just inside the Villa half, and he immediately spotted the run of Erling Haaland off the shoulder of Pau Torres.

The Portugal midfielder’s pass into the Norwegian’s path was typically sublime with the striker’s pace taking him away from the Villa defender Torres.

The big striker who has scored 24 goals in 15 games for club and country this season looked odds on to equalise for the away team but was outthought by Emi Martinez in the Villa goal who anticipated his attempt to go low and to his right and in turn made a fairly comfortable save.

The remainder of the first half saw the home side pushing for a second with the best chance falling to Villa captain John Mcginn, but his effort from the edge of the area was pulled just wide of the City upright.

The away side pushed hard for the equaliser in the second half, with Torres having to make a goal-line clearance deflecting a Savinho shot over the bar, and Haaland sending a trademark headed effort at goal over the bar from a Phil Foden-dinked cross.

The Norwegian striker thought he had rescued a point for his side in the 88th minute when substitute Omar Marmoush fired a low ball in across the six-yard box, and Haaland was there at the back post to bundle the ball over the line via a double deflection off the woodwork, but the goal was eventually ruled out for offside.

After a slow start to the season, Villa are now unbeaten in six Premier League games and have won the last four. Following the whistle, Emery was quick to praise the home supporters who created a raucous atmosphere to help see his boys through.

“I’m very proud of how the supporters transmitted their energy to us today,” the Villa boss said.

“They were positive and always helping us and made the players feel like this is our fortress.”