Aston Villa vs Man City LIVE: Premier League result, final score and reaction tonight after Leon Bailey earns draw
Aston Villa 1-1 Manchester City: Leon Bailey responded after Erling Haaland’s opener to deny the champions
Another goal from Erling Haaland wasn’t enough for Manchester City this time as Leon Bailey’s second-half equalizer salvaged a 1-1 draw for Aston Villa against the defending champion in the English Premier League on Saturday.
Haaland took his tally to 10 goals from six games by volleying in a cross from Kevin de Bruyne in the 50th minute but then missed two chances to score a second before Villa struck back.
Bailey met a low cross from Jacob Ramsey and hammered a first-time shot high into the net in the 74th to rescue a valuable point for Villa, whose manager Steven Gerrard was under heavy pressure after three straight league losses.
For City, it’s a second draw to go with four wins in the opening six games, leaving it tied for second place with Tottenham on points. Leader Arsenal has a chance to go four points clear on Sunday if it can maintain its perfect record when it travels to Manchester United.
Pep Guardiola’s City has made a habit of going two goals down before rallying, but this time it was their turn to relinquish the lead.
Haaland had been quiet in the first half but showed his predatory instincts when he came flying in at the far post to meet a pinpoint cross from De Bruyne, jumping high to side-foot the ball in.
The towering Norway striker forced two good saves from Emiliano Martinez as City pushed for a second goal.
That left the visitors open to counterattacks, though, and Ramsey had already squandered one such opportunity with a heavy touch by the time he set up Bailey for the equalizer.
Midfielder Rodri came closest to a winner for City when his shot from outside the area crept narrowly wide in the 87th.
Will Coutinho get on the score sheet?
Philippe Coutinho has netted in five of his seven league games against Manchester City.
Aston Villa vs Man City
Warm-ups are underway at Villa Park.
Villa’s key man
Ollie Watkins has scored five goals in four top-flight appearances versus the reigning champions. The Villans will need him to be on target again today if they hope to defeat Man City.
Aston Villa vs Man City
Manchester City are unbeaten in 20 Premier League away games with 15 wins and five draws in that run. There have only been four instances of longer such runs in the competition, will Aston Villa end it today?
Premier League scores
What a finish to the 3pm Premier League kick offs. Goals, drama, offsides they’ve had it all. Here’s how the six top-flight matches ended:
Brentford 5-2 Leeds
Chelsea 2-1 West Ham
Newcastle 0-0 Crystal Palace
Nottingham Forest 2-3 Bournemouth
Tottenham 2-1 Fulham
Wolves 1-0 Southampton
Seven goals in the Brentford match versus Leeds, Bournemouth came from two goals down to win against Forest and West Ham Utd have lost a point against Chelsea due to a dodgy VAR decision that disallowed a goal from Maxwel Cornet.
Villa vs Premier League champions
Aston Villa have lost 15 of their last 16 Premier League games against the reigning champions, with the exception the 7-2 victory over Liverpool in October 2020.
Gerrard on facing Man City
Steven Gerrard was asked about how Aston Villa will go about taking on Manchester City today as they look to move out of the relegation by picking up three points.
“It goes without saying that you’re playing against one of the best teams in the world. They’re littered with world class stars and arguably the best manager out there.” said the Villa boss,
“That’s the challenge for us. We’ve run this Manchester City side close on both occasions that I’ve personally competed against them with this team.
“The plan will be to make it extremely hard for them and to take them to places where they don’t want to go. We don’t want to go into the game – because of what’s happened so far this season – with any fear around the place.
“We need to have belief and confidence and make it as hard as we can for them. When the time comes to show our quality, like we have done against Manchester City last year when we had an opportunity in the final minutes with young Carney (Chukwuemeka), to snatch something.
“We know we can hurt this team. We’re looking forward to the game.”
Villa under Gerrard
Since March Aston Villa have won just three of their 16 league games with three draws and 10 defeats in that run. They have lost half of their 32 top-flight fixtures under Steven Gerrard.
His top-flight record in charge of Villa is 11 wins, five draws and 16 defeats.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says too much expected of striker Erling Haaland
Pep Guardiola believes that unrealistic expectations are already being made of Erling Haaland after scoring consecutive Premier League hat-tricks.
The Manchester City striker hit three inside 38 minutes against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night, just days after a second-half hat-trick earned the champions a 4-2 comeback victory over Crystal Palace.
Haaland has scored nine goals in his first five Premier League games - a top-flight record - and is the first player in the post-1992 era to score nine times in August alone.
Pep Guardiola says already too much expected of Erling Haaland
Haaland has scored nine goals in his first five Premier League games, including two hat-tricks
City of fire
Manchester City’s haul of 19 goals is their highest after five games of a league season.
They are vying to score multiple goals in a 15th successive Premier League fixture, which would equal the record set by Liverpool in 2019.
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