Manchester City locked horns with Aston Villa at Villa Park earlier tonight as they looked to pick a victory and move one step closer towards the Premier League title. Pep Guardiola’s men made a horror start to the game as they conceded the opening goal in the first minute when John McGinn scored from 10 yards out to put the Villans ahead on the scoreline. However, Phil Foden managed to net the equalizer in the 22nd minute.
Rodri completed the comeback for Man City with a well-placed header from close range just 18 minutes later. There was even more drama in the first half as John Stones was sent off for a reckless challenge just before the half-time break.
The Villans began the second 45 minutes looking to make their numerical advantage count. However, Matty Cash received a red card in the 57th minute as both sides played with ten men for most of the second half. Man City hung on to their narrow advantage and secured a narrow 2-1 win on the road.
Let’s take a look at how each Man City fared during the clash against the Villans.
GK: Ederson – 6/10
The Brazilian keeper made a couple of solid saves and did enough to restrict the Villans to just one goal throughout the 90 minutes.
RB: Kyle Walker – 6.5/10
He was strong in the air and was tidy with his passing. Walker had a few lively moments during the game and made a good block early on as well.
CB: John Stones – 4/10
Stones let his teammates down by getting sent off for a poor tackle in the 44th minute.
CB: Ruben Dias – 6/10
The Portuguese centre-back cleared his lines when required and will be pleased that his team got over the line with all three points in the bag.
LB: Oleksandr Zinchenko – 6.5/10
He got stuck in with a couple of tackles and made one good run down the left flank.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan – 7/10
The German midfielder made two great opportunities for his teammates to score and also pulled off a couple of encouraging dribbles from midfield.
CM: Rodri – 7.5/10
The Spaniard read the danger well and managed to give his team the lead in the 40th minute with a good, glancing header.
CM: Bernardo Silva – 8/10
Silva caused all sorts of problems for the Villa defenders and has got two great assists to show for his efforts.
RW: Riyad Mahrez – 7/10
The Algerian winger was always willing to have a shot but lacked the cutting edge in the attacking third.
ST: Gabriel Jesus – 6/10
Jesus offered very little in the first half and got replaced at half-time.
LW: Phil Foden – 8/10
Foden was a constant headache for the Villans and orchestrated quite a few decent openings for others around him. He scored the all-important equalizer for Man City which goes to show just how valuable he has become in Guardiola’s starting XI.
Substitutes:
CB: Aymeric Laporte – 6/10
He didn’t have too much trouble defensively after coming off the bench at half-time.
CM: Fernandinho – N/A
The Brazilian veteran hardly had any time to make an impact.
