Unai Emery will soon celebrate three years in charge of Aston Villa. Before taking over at Villa Park in 2022, he met with Villa co-owner Nassef Sawiris, who handed him a blank piece of paper and asked him to design the club he needed to succeed, from top to bottom. It has gone pretty well so far.
Well, if you had handed Emery a blank piece of paper and asked him to design a performance in a single game, it would be this one against Manchester City, as they beat the former perennial Premier League champions 1-0.
The Villains were coming off an embarrassing display against the excellently named **Dutch**side Go Ahead Eagles in the UEFA Europa League, where they lost 2-1, and could not have responded better than they did here.
They battled hard, ran hard, and delivered an immaculate team performance, and **Matty Cash**’s early goal from the edge of the box with his weaker foot was enough to grant Villa a much-deserved victory.
For City, the alarm bells may well be ringing, as they were indifferent for the vast majority of the game and now find themselves six points off Arsenal at the top of the **Premier League**table.
Story of the Match
Manchester City dominated the game’s opening proceedings in typical City style. Nice moves, clever passing, it all looked very good, very Guardiola.
But for all their control, they were undone by a clever Aston Villa set-piece, which saw Emiliano Buendía play the ball to Matty Cash, who was waiting like a coiled snake on the edge of the box, and as the ball reached him, he let off a beautiful effort into the far corner to put Villa one up. Cue camera cuts to Austin MacPhee looking at an iPad.
Cash’s goal gave Villa the momentum; they were now the aggressors, consistently troubling City’s backline, and very nearly doubled their advantage through a long-range John McGinn effort that just went the wrong side of the post.
Villa were bullying City. If you think of that classic Pep Guardiola City team, they did not get bullied. Ever. This iteration of the Citizens, while still imbued with genuine world-class quality, does seem to struggle with adversity. Not to be too simplistic, but it would appear they “don’t like it up em.”
The game was almost passing their best players by. It seemed they were lacking individual excellence, someone to take control and make the game all about them.
Oscar Bobb and **Savinho**’s ability is clear to everyone, but in moments like this, when the chips are down, and someone needs to put their head above the proverbial parapet, they struggle. Phil Foden used to be able to bring that drive that inspired his team, but he seems to have lost that spark.
The Midlands’s side always felt as though they were one good ball over the top of City’s defence away from doubling their lead, while there was a real nervousness to their opponents.
Savinho had his side’s first real chance on the hour mark, but his well-timed volley was turned over the bar by Pau Torres.
Any time City threatened, it was quickly stamped out by the imperious Amadou Onana, who was a colossus in the middle of the park. He was too much for Man City’s meek offence, consistently shrugging marauding full-backs and wingers off the ball with ease, and then recycling possession to those in claret. The Belgian international even took a fierce Foden shot square in the face for the cause.
Jadon Sancho, the former City academy player, came agonisingly close to scoring his Villa goal, as he danced around Matheus Nunes, before letting off a shot from a tight angle, but was denied twice by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Ollie Watkins also had a fantastic opportunity to put the game to bed as he was played in behind the City defence, but he could not quite round the Italian goalkeeper, as Donnarumma snuffed out the impending danger.
Sancho, who came on in the first half for the injured Buendía, was taken off in 15 minutes. It was clearly for tactical reasons, but the 25-year-old cut, understandably, cut a frustrated figure as he wandered off the pitch, and it is difficult not to have sympathy for him.
The standard late flurry of offence you see from any team, a solitary goal down in the Premier League, came from Man City, but they could not find a way through; they huffed and they puffed, but Villa stayed resolute.
On the 90th minute, City thought they had equalised as Omar Marmoush got beyond the Villa defence and squared the ball to Erling Haaland, and the big Norwegian threw himself at the ball and squeezed it home, but unfortunately for him, his Egyptian team was offside in the build-up.
City, ultimately, could not find a way through and suffered their first defeat in 10 games, and their third loss of the Premier League season. The win for Emery’s men moves them seventh, just a single point behind City.
The Towering Villa midfield was sensational against City’s tepid offence and was key in protecting his backline. He was everywhere.
Onana often goes under the radar, but today was a reminder of the quality the former **Everton**man possesses, both offensively and defensively.