Leon Bailey’s deflected strike earned Aston Villa a deserved 1-0 win over Manchester City at Villa Park that lifted them above the reigning champions into third.
The goal came late in the game to maintain the perfect home record of Unai Emery’s side and reflected their superior endeavour throughout the contest against an unusually passive City. It is now four Premier League games without a win for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Erling Haaland did have two chances in the first half but City never looked comfortable, missing the suspended Rodri badly. They drop to fourth in the table and are now six points adrift of Arsenal. On this evidence, they may need to worry about Villa too.
Villa went for City from the outset, Lucas Digne hitting the side-netting, Bailey running through and forcing a low stop from Ederson, before Pau Torres’ curled shot on the angle needed an even better save by the Brazilian. The crowd were roaring Villa on.
There was a reminder of the size of the threat at the other end when Haaland had two chances in quick succession, both saved by the superb Emiliano Martinez. But those were City’s only two shots of a frantic first half. Villa had no fewer than 13 of their own.
John Stones came in for the suspended Rodri, while Jeremy Doku was injured so in came Rico Lewis.
John Stones, on his return to the starting line-up, struggled in midfield alongside Rico Lewis, where they appeared outnumbered by the home team. The intensity was challenging and there was almost a reward late in the half only for Douglas Luiz to have his goal ruled out.
There was nothing wrong with his header but Digne had allowed the ball to run out of play before crossing. A half-time lead would have been deserved and the Villa support stood to applaud at the interval. Proud but expecting a backlash after the break, no doubt.
City did briefly exert slightly better control at the start of the second half but Villa came again. Bernardo Silva’s loose pass was seized upon by Bailey and he fed John McGinn who looked set to stroke the ball home but measured his shot wide of the far post.
Bailey was not to be denied. Having tormented Josko Gvardiol for much of the evening, he sprinted away from him again before cutting inside and seeing his right-footed shot deflect off the foot of Ruben Dias and beyond the helpless Ederson.
Meanwhile, Scott McTominay relieved some of the pressure surrounding Erik Ten Hag as his double earned an improved Manchester United a much-needed 2-1 win over Chelsea.
Ten Hag’s gamble in dropping both Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial amid reports of dressing-room disharmony had the desired effect for the under-fire manager, with the hosts’ quality with and without the ball a world away from Saturday’s dismal defeat at Newcastle.
