Match Report and Player Ratings: Aston Villa 1-0 Manchester City (Premier League) | OneFootball

Manchester City fell to a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa at Villa Park on Sunday afternoon as a first-half goal from Matty Cash was enough for Villa to take all three points.

City were the first to threaten when Tijjani Reijnders’ dipping shot went inches above the crossbar after six minutes. The Blues struggled to break down the Villa defence and it was the Villa’s turn to attack.

The Villains then applied pressure to the City defence from the 15th minute onwards, and found their reward in the 20th minute when right-back Cash put them in the lead.

Lucas Digne’s corner was taken short to Emiliano Buendia, who switched the ball to an open Cash on the edge of the area and he took a touch to set himself before arrowing a left footed strike into Gianluigi Donnarumma’s bottom left corner, giving the Italian no chance of keeping the ball out.

City had a golden opportunity to level just two minutes later, Matheus Nunes sent a long ball forward which was taken down by Bernardo Silva and he played the ball to Erling Haaland who made a bursting run into the penalty area but his shot was straight at Emiliano Martinez.

Villa continued to dominate – to City’s surprise – and by half time it was Villa with the lead and the majority of the possession in the first half, boasting 55% of the ball and limiting The Blues to just 3 shots.

The Cityzens were so unlucky not to have an equaliser just before the hour mark, Gvardiol’s cross to the back post from the right side of the penalty area was cleared away but only to Savinho who fired a shot on the half volley that was blocked. The Brazilian then got a second go at it which was cleared off the line by Pau Torres.

Pep Guardiola decided to change things up just after 60 minutes, with Nico O’Reilly, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku all coming on to the pitch to replace Bernardo, Oscar Bobb and John Stones.

City did have the ball in the back of the net in the 89th minute after substitute Omar Marmoush squared the ball across for Haaland who squeezed the ball in at the back post, but the Egyptian forward was offside.

Here are the ratings from Manchester City’s first defeat in ten games in all competitions:

Starting XI

Gianluigi Donnarumma – 7 

Couldn’t do much for the goal, made a couple of key saves to keep City in the contest. 

Matheus Nunes – 7 

The Portuguese international has had a good run in the right back role from the last few games and seems like he’s making that position his own. Solid performance bar a couple of minor mistakes on the ball. 

Ruben Dias – 6.5 

Made a couple of vital blocks to stop Villa from scoring more than one goal. Starting to pick up form. 

John Stones – 7  

Progressed the ball forward well as we’re used to seeing from him. Good defensively, blocking plenty of shots and crosses. 

Josko Gvardiol – 6 

Some stray passes, most notably in the opening minute that went straight out of play and poor defensively. Second half was better from him and looked more comfortable when moved to central defence in 60th minute following Stones replaced by O’Reilly.  

Tijjani Reijnders – 6.5  

Allowed City to get on the attack well but the midfield looked exposed, particularly in the first-half. 

Bernardo Silva – 7 

Relentless pressing from the captain and put the Villa defence under pressure at times, but The Villains played out from the pressing well.

Phil Foden – 7.5  

The main creative outlet and had some good link up play with Haaland and Bobb especially.   

Oscar Bobb – 6

Dribbling was effective but just wasn’t able to make an impact on the game, feels like his end product isn’t up to scratch just yet. 

Savinho – 6.5 

Saw a lot of the ball and put plenty of crosses into the area from the left wing, I can’t remember any of them reaching a City player in all honesty.

Erling Haaland – 6.5  

His astonishing goalscoring record of scoring in 12 consecutive matches comes to an end, unlucky not to have continued that record. 

Substitutes

Nico Gonzalez – 6 

A couple of cynical fouls and a few stray passes, didn’t have an impact on the game.

Nico O’Reilly – 6 

Looked poor when he came on, lost out in a few battles. 

Jeremy Doku – 7.5  

Really injected some pace and quality after coming on, put some very dangerous crosses in but unlucky for any of them not to come to much. 

Rayan Cherki – 6.5 

Didn’t see a lot of the ball but when he did he was quality, cross to Haaland unlucky not to reach target. 

Omar Marmoush – 7 

Came on in last 10 minutes and provided what would’ve been an the assist for a late equaliser, had the Egyptian not gone early with his run resulting in an offside.