> **Dave Woodhall celebrates Villa’s win against Manchester City.**
**I think it’s compulsory at this time of the year to talk about how a good performance turns back the clock. Villa sort-of did that on Sunday afternoon, but rather than rewinding to a single game or period of time it was in effect a showreel of Unai Emery’s three years in charge of the club.**
There were no great surprises in the line-up, because despite Thursday night’s Euro-setback the team have been doing well lately and if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Manchester City have also been doing well and for the second weekend in a row the opposition could have gone second if they’d beaten the Villa. If.
City began as though their good run would continue but Villa, as we’ve been doing a lot lately, grew into the match after an uncertain start. Then nineteen minutes gone and a short corner was worked out to Matty Cash, who was totally unmarked. If that was the Villa defence I’d have been both furious and not in the least surprised but this was Manchester City, the billion pound club, who were defending like a pub team. Cash took the ball well, placed his shot perfectly and Villa were a goal up.
One Emiliano did well in a one on one with the world’s supposedly best striker while the other Emiliano aent off with what looked a nasty injury, because a Villa player can’t possibly be in the best form of his life without a setback. Jadon Sancho came on as a replacement, but let’s say it wasn’t one of his best afternoons.
John McGinn’s shot went just wide and the visitors claimed they should have had a penalty just because, as the half-time whistle ended what had been an entertaining first half.
After the break Pau Torres made a good goalmouth clearance and Sancho should perhaps have done better with a double chance before being substituted for Evann Guessand and not seeming too happy at the idea. Then towards the end City had an equaliser disallowed for a tight but obvious offside.
And that was the match. Three more points and while Villa aren’t exactly charging up the league they are getting closer to the teams who will be in contention when the table settles down. If I had to pick a man of the match I’d probably go for Ezri ‘has been linked with’ Konsa or Amadou Onana. Then again, Cash and McGinn were also good shouts; it was that kind of performance.
This was the first time since 1936 that a top-flight team have failed to win any of their first five games then won the next four. Again, you have to wonder who it is that gets paid to think these things up and where they park their anorak. It’s also the first time in a long while that Villa, or probably anyone else, have beaten Manchester City at home three times in a row.
These sort of records don’t mean much but they do show that Villa are not only a good team, but we have been for a few years now. In fact, since the day Unai arrived we’ve looked capable of beating anyone on our day. Liverpool are up next and apart from Buendia, the biggest worry is whether the Premier League will let them lose again.
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