Man City vs Aston Villa LIVE: Matheus Nunes nets late winner as hosts move into top four | OneFootball

(Reuters)

Manchester City moved up to third in the Premier League and took a huge step to securing Champions League football after beating Aston Villa 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium.

Unai Emery’s Villa started proceedings in rapid fashion with Marcus Rashford, starting ahead of Marco Asensio and Ollie Watkins, striking the post just 17 seconds into the match. The visitors had another strong chance batted away and City managed to strike first.

Omar Marmoush drove into the box from the left wing and pulled a pass back to Bernardo Silva who rocketed in the opener to get the Etihad celebrating. Their joy didn’t last long as Jacob Ramsey was brought down in the City box resulting in a penalty that Rashford converted to bring the game level at half-time.

City turned up the tempo in the second hlaf but they needed stoppage time to force a winner as Matheus Nunes arrived at the back post to turn Jeremy Doku’s cross into the back of the net and secure all three points.

Pinned

Matheus Nunes unlocks key to dismantling Aston Villa and charts a way back for misfiring signings

The time when Pep Guardiola called Matheus Nunes one of the best players in the world feels distant. The statement was discredited long before Guardiola said his £50m signing was not clever enough to play in the middle.

But as a makeshift right-back, Nunes may have sent Manchester City surging back into the Champions League. He has often looked a bad buy and yet, in an instant, a man deemed a waste of money could have scored a priceless goal.

Matheus Nunes unlocks the key to dismantling Aston Villa in crunch clash

Manchester City 2-1 Aston Villa: Matheus Nunes redeemed his price tag as the hosts took a step towards Champions League football

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Richard Jolly at Etihad Stadium22 April 2025 22:25

Man City’s ‘bad season’ cannot be salvaged reveals Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola says that this season has been ‘bad’ for Manchester City and no results from now until the end of the season will be able to change that.

City defeated Aston Villa 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday evening to move up to third in the Premier League after Matheus Nunes’ 94th minute winner which puts the team one step closer to securing Champions League football next year.

The club are also in the FA Cup semi-finals and can end the season with some silverware despite their struggles to challenge for the league title.

Man City’s ‘bad season’ cannot be salvaged reveals Pep Guardiola

The City boss says consistency in the Premier League is how he measures a season’s success and qualifying for the Champions League will still make this year a ‘bad’ one

Mike Jones22 April 2025 23:01

Manchester City's Matheus Nunes speaking to Sky Sports:

"Very important and this was a very tough game.

"Very tough opponent and we came with the mentality that we needed to win this game.

"We are going to see at the end of the season how big this win is going to be.

"Every three points now till the end of the season is going to be very important."

Mike Jones22 April 2025 22:33