Now even the most faithful and biased fans cannot deny: Manchester City is falling apart, and it’s only December! The four-time consecutive Premier League champion has all but lost their title as after another clear and deserved defeat, they trail Liverpool nine points, and the Reds have to games in hand. In fact, after a 2-1 defeat from Aston Villa today, Pep Guardiola’s men have now moved back one place and sit at sixth place, with the chance of moving further down, if Bournemouth defeats Manchester United tomorrow. Unai Emery’s men were dominant, more clinical and played with lot more desire than the guests, and the win was more than justified. Although overall Aston Villa have lost four of their last eight Premier League games, they’re now unbeaten in each of their last eight at Villa Park. They’ve also managed today to win four in a row at home for the first time since a run of 15 between March and December 2023.🚨🏴 GOAL | Aston Villa 1-0 Manchester City | Jhon DuranJHON DURAN OPENS THE SCORING FOR ASTON VILLA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!pic.twitter.com/ziJSx9gVxQ— Tekkers Foot (@tekkersfoot) December 21, 2024 What can we say about Manchester City. Another loss is a big problem, but the bigger one is the performance. The current champions were flat for 90 minutes, without any passion, without a desire to show everyone they are the best team in England for years now. They had one good chance in 90 minutes and Guardiola must do something to get their minds right. Ederson was injured so Ortega was between the posts again. Matheus Nunes, Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne were dropped to the bench, while Akanji returned to the squad since Ruben Dias is injured and will be out at least for a month. It’s now well over a year since Jack Grealish found the back of the net for Manchester City but he was totally average again today against his own club. Also, Phil Foden has had more shots without scoring than any other player in the Premier League this season (24) and he finally got one, but it was deep in injury time and meant nothing. Kevin de Bruyne wasn’t even introduced and remained on the bench.⚽️ GOAL 🏴 | Aston Villa 2-0 Manchester City | Morgan RogersMorgan Rogers has given double leadpic.twitter.com/G99xcXuxto— Goals Xtra (@GoalsXtra) December 21, 2024 Aston Villa pushed from the very first minute, literally. Manchester City’s keeper Stefan Ortega made no less than four saves in the first 120 seconds of the game, one of them being a goal-line save. McGinn fed Jhon Duran who was one one win Orgeta, who saved his shot, and then did the same thing seconds later after a shot by Torres after the corner kick. But Villa did eventually score, after a quick counter attack. Tielemans sent a fantastic ball to Rogers, who assisted the upcoming Duran and it was easily 1-0. But, from that point on, it was a possession type of game, where City took the ball, but made a solid chance only once, in the 43rd minute when Grealish’s cross was picked up by Gvardiol, but his header went over the bar. The hosts opened the second half much better and even scored the second goal, but as it turned out, Duran’s score happened due to offside. Rogers then had a chance but the ball hit the post. But the second time he didn’t miss. He started the action, took the ball to the Manchester City half, and then passed it to McGinn, who gave him the ball back just in time to score for 2-0 in the 68th minute. Guardiola introduced some players from the bench, but nothing happened, except from Foden’s goal in the 93rd minute, but it was too late by then.ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 17SaturdayAston Villa – Man.City 2-1(1-0)/Duran 16, Rogers 68 – Foden 93/18:00: (2.35) Brentford (3.50) Nott.Forest (3.15)18:00: (4.60) Ipswich (3.90) Newcastle (1.73)18:00: (2.90) West Ham (3.75) Brighton (2.40)20:30: (5.70) Crystal Palace (4.00) Arsenal (1.67)Sunday17:00: (5.30) Everton (4.00) Chelsea (1.63)17:00: (1.45) Fulham (4.50) Southampton (7.00)17:00: (2.55) Leicester (3.65) Wolverhampton (2.75)17:00: (1.90) Man.Utd. (3.70) Bournemouth (4.40)19:30: (4.10) Tottenham (4.40) Liverpool (1.80)***odds are subject to change***
