Aston Villa v Man City LIVE: Premier League end result and ultimate rating as City’s depressing run continues
Manchester City’s miserable run of form continued as Aston Villa leapfrogged Pep Guardiola’s side into fifth with a deserved victory over the faltering Premier League champions.
Goals from Jhon Duran and Morgan Rogers, who struck against his former club, condemned City to a third defeat in a row and ninth loss in their last 12 games in all competitions.
City were out-run by Unai Emery’s side, who rediscovered their form with a stirring performance in front of their home fans. It was a day to forget for Jack Grealish, City’s brightest player on his return to Villa Park, who was booed throughout another lackluster performance from Guardiola’s team.
Villa started brightly and Duran had the chance to open the scoring after just 15 seconds. The striker converted his second opportunity to finish a flowing move on 15 minutes, instigated by a brilliant Youri Tielemans pass. Dominant after half-time, Rogers wrapped up victory on the hour.
City had no response, with Erling Haaland anonymous and Kevin De Bruyne remaining on the bench throughout as an unused substitute. Phil Foden pulled one back with seconds left, but it was too little too late as City drop to sixth in the table, with Villa climbing into fifth. Follow all the reaction in our live blog below.
Erling Haaland admits his form has not been good enough and backs Guardiola
Erling Haaland, who now has just one goal in his last six games for Manchester City, speaking to TNT Sports:
“We have to continue working. The first thing I am looking at is myself, I have not been doing things good enough, have not been scoring my chances and everything. I have to be better. It’s a lot on me and I’ve not been good enough
“Of course it’s not the best. We know how important confidence is. You can see it. It affects every human being, these kind of things. That’s how it is. We have to continue. We have to stay positive even though it is difficult. We have to keep working hard.”
On Pep Guardiola
“He’s won the Premier League six times in seven years. We can never forget that. He will find the solutions. He’s been doing that every year, apart from one. We still believe in him and we have to work harder than ever right now “
Pep Guardiola reacts to Man City’s defeat at Aston Villa
Pep Guardiola speaking to TNT Sports.
“We made a good first half, we caused problems but made some mistakes. Second half we dropped. We changed our pressing when John [Stones] couldn’t continue and we weren’t as good. Congratulations to Aston Villa. We keep going.
“I would not say no. In the mid-block they are so strong. They are physical with Onana and Kamara. We had good moments. Not big chances but more than against United [last weekend].
“The second half we dropped. Our pressing was not effective in our right side and we struggled a little bit. We found a goal at the end but it was too late. We struggle to score and we concede goals.
“I have to find the answers. We have to get players back. Sooner or later we are going to find it.”
It gets a bit tense at the end when Guardiola is asked if he will try anything different to improve Man City’s form. “Back my players,” he says.
‘Lack of fight’ as Man City lose again
Former England striker Peter Crouch says Man City looked resigned to defeat and there was a “lack of fight” in Pep Guardiola’s team.
Speaking on TNT Sports, he said: “That was the worrying thing for me. It felt like they were waiting to get beat and there was nothing frantic about them.
“They were lacking ideas and there wasn’t the ‘shock’ when they were behind.”
Questions surrounding Pep Guardiola?
Here’s the thoughts of The Independent’s chief football writer Miguel Delaney:
‘Pep Guardiola has an argument to be the greatest manager of all time, and yet it doesn’t feel he has “managed” this situation at all well – even separate to form. Constantly going on about himself and his own legacy, and not in a way that deflects attention from the players.
‘It doesn’t scream “leadership”, which I know sounds very “high performance” but you basically want someone growling about getting through this.’
FULL TIME! Aston Villa 2-1 Man City
There’s a chance that Manchester City could spend Christmas Day in ninth.
Bournmouth, Fulham and Brighton could all go above them with wins this weekend.
City next play on Boxing Day. They host Everton at 12:30pm.
Usually, that would be an automatic victory. You can’t say that right now.
FULL TIME! Aston Villa 2-1 Man City
Obviously, the continued decline of Manchester City, who were untouchable last season, will dominate the reaction here.
But Villa were excellent and looked like the side who finished fourth last season. Unai Emery’s side have struggled at times over the last couple of months, but a week off really helped and the hosts completely dominated City with an intense, energetic performance.
As Tielemans said, it’s about being consistent now. Emery has also found the formula with Kamara and Onana in midfield and Duran in-form and firing up front.
FULL TIME! Aston Villa 2-1 Man City
The run continues. Or gets even worse? As Richard Jolly points out, Man City have lost games with ok performances. Not today. They were awful.
Manchester City’s run of results, NINE losses in 12 games
L 1-2 vs Tottenham (A) – Carabao Cup
L 1-2 vs Bournemouth (A) – Premier League
L 1-4 vs Sporting (A) – Champions League
L 1-2 vs Brighton (A) – Premier League
L 0-4 vs Tottenham (H) – Premier League
D 3-3 vs Feyenoord (H) – Champions League
L 0-2 vs Liverpool (A) – Premier League
W 3-0 vs Nottingham Forest (H) – Premier League
D 2-2 vs Crystal Palace (A) – Premier League
L 0-2 vs Juventus (A) – Champions League
L 1-2 vs Manchester United (H) – Premier League
L 1-2 vs Aston Villa (A) – Premier League
FULL TIME! Aston Villa 2-1 Man City
Youri Tielemans has earned his Christmas Day. Brilliant performance.
“Really good, we fought together, defended together and made the right choices in attack. It was a good performance.
“For me, going forward it helped knowing I had them [Onana and Kamara behind me]. I knew I had space behind their midfielders.
“It’s always difficult against Man City. We know they haven’t won as much but they are a class side. It’s credit to us because we showed character.
“The league is wide open. That’s why we love football. This season is tough physically, mentally, but the quality is high. We have to be consistent.”
FULL TIME! Aston Villa 2-1 Man City
Phil Foden’s belated first league goal of the season has given the scoreline a flattering sheen for City. That was a pretty comprehensive defeat. Guardiola believes they have played well in some of their losses. Not today. Duran, Watkins and Tielemans were all terrific for Villa, putting their own recent stumbles behind them. For City, Foden apart, their best player may have been their goalkeeper, Stefan Ortega.
