Aston Villa beat Manchester City at home in EPL to deepen Pep Guardiola’s pain

LONDON – Aston Villa beat crisis-hit Manchester City 2-1 on Dec 21, to heap more misery on floundering manager Pep Guardiola, who has now suffered nine defeats in his past 12 matches.

Jhon Duran finished off a fine team move to give the home side an early lead and Morgan Rogers doubled Villa’s advantage in the 65th minute.

Phil Foden scored his first English Premier League goal of the season in stoppage time but it proved to be too little too late for Guardiola’s men.

The City boss, in the worst run of his glittering career, said on Dec 20 that “sooner or later” things will turn around but his team’s fear factor has vanished.

Striker Erling Haaland shared on TNT Sports what was said in the dressing room after the loss.

“Not a lot. But of course we are disappointed, it’s not good enough. It’s not good enough from me,” the Norwegian said. “They’re (Villa) good players, it’s difficult to come here but we’re Man City, we should be out there. We have to continue, we have to believe and we have to keep working hard.

“First, I’m looking at myself, I haven’t been doing things good enough, I haven’t been scoring my chances. I have to do better, I haven’t been good enough. We have to continue and stay positive even though it is difficult.”

On Guardiola’s struggles, he added: “He won the Premier League six times in seven years, so we will never forget that. He will find the solutions. He has been doing that every single year. We still believe in him, we have to work harder than ever right now.”

The win lifts Unai Emery’s inconsistent Villans to fifth in the Premier League table, one place above sinking City.

Guardiola made six changes to the team side who lost the Dec 15 Manchester derby, bringing in goalkeeper Stefan Ortega and reshaping his defence with Rico Lewis, John Stones and Manuel Akanji.

Mateo Kovacic and Jack Grealish also returned.

But the defending champions started the match in chaotic fashion and could have been behind inside 20 seconds.

Untidy work from Josko Gvardiol allowed John McGinn to steal the ball and he fed Duran, whose shot from outside the box was pushed behind by Ortega.

Villa were millimetres away from taking the lead from the resulting corner, with Ortega, in for first-choice goalkeeper Ederson, producing a superb save to deny Pau Torres.

City then settled and their possession numbers topped 75 per cent but they created little.

Instead, it was Villa who took the lead through Duran after a superb team move, with his seventh Premier League goal of the season.

Youri Tielemans delivered a wonderful defence-splitting pass to Rogers, who burst through City’s backline with ease before finding Duran on his right and the Colombian international finished crisply.

Foden tested Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez in the 35th minute after an incisive move involving Lewis. And Gvardiol squandered a glorious chance moments before half-time, heading over a Grealish cross.

Guardiola brought on Kyle Walker for Stones at the break.

Minutes into the second half, Villa’s Matty Cash lashed an attempt into the side netting after a speedy attack, before Duran had a strike ruled out for offside.

Rogers hit the foot of the post just before the hour mark after an intricate team move down the left.

Emery’s men doubled their lead 20 minutes into the second half, with Rogers finishing unerringly from a McGinn pass.

City created little as they searched for a way back into the game, until Foden pounced for a late consolation goal.

“We have good moments, we had chances, more chances than in the (Manchester) United game, but in the second half we dropped and our pressing was not good enough,” admitted Guardiola.

“We struggled a little bit. We found a goal in the end, but too late.” AFP