Man City slump to fourth after defeat at Villa
English Champions, Manchester City, lost further ground in the Premier League title race when they went down 1-0 at Aston Villa on Wednesday after Liverpool beat bottom club, Sheffield United.
Leon Bailey’s deflected strike after a surging run in the 74th minute sealed Villa’s club record-equalling 14th successive home league win as they moved above City into third place.
City, who have now gone four league games without a win, could have few complaints as they were comprehensively outplayed in all departments by Unai Emery’s side in Birmingham.
It was Emery’s first victory against a Pep Guardiola side at the 14th time of asking.
Liverpool eased to a 2-0 victory over Sheffield United for whom Chris Wilder was back in the technical area after returning on Tuesday following the sacking of Paul Heckingbottom.
Virgil van Dijk’s first-half volley and a late effort by Dominik Szoboszlai were enough for Juergen Klopp’s side who closed the gap on leaders, Arsenal, to two points.
Guardiola spoke confidently ahead of the Villa game of City’s quest for a record fourth successive Premier League title predicting his side would come out on top.
But Wednesday’s display will have given fresh impetus to all the clubs attempting to stop them.
City managed only two goals attempts all game to Villa’s 22 as they produced a jaded-looking performance at Villa Park.
Bailey deservedly won the game for his side when he surged forward and struck a shot that took a big deflection off Ruben Dias to leave keeper Ederson with no chance of making a save.
Apart from a couple of efforts by Erling Haaland, both saved by Emiliano Martinez, City were anemic.
It was a momentous night for Villa and their manager Emery who has transformed the Midlands club in little more than a year since replacing Steven Gerrard.—Reuters
