Aston Villa v Man City LIVE: Premier League result and final score as City’s miserable run continues
Aston Villa 2-1 Manchester City: Unai Emery’s side were dominant and inflicted a ninth defeat in 12 games for Pep Guardiola
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.
Villa Park return is painful reminder that Jack Grealish is wasting his talent at Man City
Jack Grealish has been at City since August 2021. He has only played particularly well for one of those seasons, 2022-23. Last year, he found form for a month, from the end of December, and around 10 days in spring. His form otherwise explained his omission from England’s Euro 2024 squad. He may have been luckless with ill-timed injuries this season and the statistics again show City lose a lower percentage of games he starts, but his recent achievements end there.
And the glimpse of his beloved ground may remind Grealish, the great-grandson of a 1905 Villa FA Cup winner and the Brummie who captained them to promotion, of what he is missing out on. Sold long before Unai Emery was appointed, Grealish was not to know what would happen in his absence, but the thought must have crossed his mind that he could have still been there, skippering them in their Champions League win over Bayern Munich.
Villa Park return is painful reminder that Jack Grealish is wasted at Man City
Pep Guardiola has turned ‘one of the most exciting attacking players in world football’ into someone who is neither exciting nor attacking, and Grealish is now struggling to contribute at all
Manchester City’s run of results, eight losses in 11 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
Pep Guardiola on dropping Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne
Pep Guardiola, speaking to TNT Sports ahead of Man City’s test against Aston Villa.
On the return of John Stones and Manuel Akanji, who start:
“They train two, three times. Important players for us.”
On Ederson, who is not in the City squad:
“He’s not here. He doesn’t feel good.”
On Walker and De Bruyne, who have both dropped to the bench:
“The way we want to play, I decide this line-up. As simple as that.”
Erling Haaland will score if Man City ‘play better’ - Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola on Erling Haaland, who has scored just once in five appearances.
“I prefer to play with Erling,” said Guardiola. “I don’t think in the situation that I have that I don’t let Erling play - absolutely not. No, no, I didn’t think about that.
“Always I play false nines for the quality specifically of the players I have in that moment.
“In some games playing man to man, I love to play against false nines but I have an Erling, I have to adapt.
“I see him well, I see him fine. The reason why maybe he’s not so productive in this situation is for the way we are playing, that we don’t produce the amount of chances that we were able to do in the past.
“When he’s surrounded by two or three or four central defenders it’s not easy for him. We have to play better, to create the spaces for him.”
Unai Emery on Man City and Pep Guardiola: ‘He’s the best’
Unai Emery insists Pep Guardiola is “the best” coach as Aston Villa seek to pile further misery on Manchester City.
City have lost eight of their last 11 games in all competitions, winning just once in that sequence, and fallen nine points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool.
The Premier League champions have also played a game more than Arne Slot’s table toppers and face a tough weekend assignment with a Saturday lunchtime date at Villa Park.
But Villa boss Emery has no doubt over what he is coming up against, saying of his fellow Spaniard Guardiola: “He’s the best. I’m a little bit surprised (about Manchester City’s form), but it’s football.
“It’s a very tough match and an exciting match for us. We’re respecting them a lot.”
Pep Guardiola on Man City transfer decisions
Pep Guardiola has revealed that Manchester City may look to do business in the January transfer window - something that he has rarely done while in charge of the champions.
But City are struggling and have a long injury list, although Guardiola has said that any new recruits will not be stop-gap signings.
“We’ve spoken about doing something. If it’s in winter it’s if we really we need it or if we can really find something - (but) not for just four or five months.
“We’ll see. I don’t know how many times in the last years we’ve gone into the winter (market) - maybe just Aymeric Laporte seven years ago.
“We’re not a big fan of that but the circumstances of this season have been special. We have to see if something is possible and if not we will wait until the summer time.
“In the winter it is more difficult to do. Teams don’t want to sell and they are so expensive.”
Aston Villa vs Man City team news and line-ups
So Jack Grealish starts on his return to Villa Park. Mateo Kovacic also returns for the visitors, as does John Stones. There’s no Ederson in Man City’s squad, with Stefan Ortega starting in goal. Kyle Walker is fit but drops to the bench.
Jhon Duran starts ahead of Ollie Watkins for Aston Villa and Boubacar Kamara partners Amadou Onana in midfield, with John McGinn and Youri Tielemans either side. Morgan Rogers starts against his former club.
Aston Villa vs Man City team news and line-ups
Aston Villa XI: Martinez; Cash; Konsa, Torres, Digne; Onana, Kamara; Tielemans, McGinn; Rogers, Duran.
Subs: Olsen, Mings, Barkley, Buendia, Watkins, Nedeljkovic, Maatsen, Bogarde, Bailey.
Man City XI: Ortega, Lewis, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Gundogan, Bernardo; Foden, Haaland, Grealish
Subs: Carson, Walker, Ake, Doku, De Bruyne, Savio, Simpson-Pusey, O’Reilly, McAtee.
Aston Villa vs Man City team news and line-ups
Aston Villa:
Today's starting lineup 🤛 #AVLMCI pic.twitter.com/eNJBos85r9
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 21, 2024
Man City:
Squad for this afternoon 📋
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 21, 2024
XI | Ortega Moreno, Lewis, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Gundogan, Bernardo (C), Foden, Grealish, Haaland
SUBS | Carson, Walker, Ake, Doku, De Bruyne, Savinho, Simpson-Pusey, O'Reilly, McAtee#ManCity | @etihad pic.twitter.com/pZ4vlkXY16
Villa Park return is painful reminder that Jack Grealish is wasting his talent at Man City
Txiki Begiristain was looking forward to being entertained. Manchester City, often dubbed big spenders, had spent more than any other English club previously had on one player. They had made Jack Grealish the £100m man. Their director of football called his costliest recruit “one of the most exciting attacking players in world football”.
Three-and-a-half years later, Grealish returns to Aston Villa on Saturday as, arguably, neither an attacking player nor an exciting one. Instead, a maverick has been reinvented as a curiosity, a Pep Guardiola project who now does far fewer of the things often associated with excitement – score goals, make them, run at defenders – than he used to. There are those at Villa Park who will recognise a local accent and see a familiar face. But the player they might see is rather different.
A more successful one, Guardiola may argue, an individualist who became part of a champion team. Grealish may have sacrificed some of the flair, but he got silverware in return. In the glow of the treble, it seemed a fine trade-off. Now? Perhaps not.
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