By Sunny Badwal, PA
Manchester City’s abysmal run of form continued with a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa thanks to goals in each half from Jhon Duran and Morgan Rogers.
Both sides let late leads slip to defeat last week but Villa ensured victory in rather comfortable fashion to condemn the current Premier League champions to a sixth defeat in their last eight league matches.
City gave themselves a glimmer of hope when Phil Foden got them on the board with a minute to play but it proved too late and Unai Emery’s side climbed above City in the Premier League table.
Guardiola made four changes from Sunday’s late implosion to neighbours Manchester United as Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne dropped out of the side alongside Ederson and the injured Ruben Dias.
Unai Emery opted for Amadou Onana while Diego Carlos missed out completely and Duran’s recent goalscoring form was rewarded with a third consecutive league start over Ollie Watkins.
City’s nightmare run looked to be continuing with just 15 seconds on the clock at Villa Park when Josko Gvardiol was caught napping by John McGinn, who fed in Duran who shot too early and it was palmed behind by Stefan Ortega.
Ortega was called into action again less than a minute later when he somehow clawed Pau Torres’ glancing header out from under the goalframe and away to safety.
City had their first sniff of goal when John Stones’ long ball picked out Jack Grealish – his first touch was greeted by loud boos from the fans who used to sing his name – and he cut in on his right and flashed the ball wide of the far post.
In the 16th minute, City found themselves behind. Youri Tielemans created the opportunity with a sublime pass which sliced through City’s spine to Rogers who squared for Duran to score his third league goal in as many games.
The visitors started to get a foothold into the contest and Foden forced Emi Martinez’s first meaningful save after his one-two with Rico Lewis opened up the opportunity for him to fizz it into the far corner but the Villa stopper was on hand to push behind.
Another opportunity flashed by the way of the champions – Grealish swung a cross in for Gvardiol who was unable to guide his header under the crossbar.
City had the goalframe to thank for not going two goals behind after some neat link-up play between Rogers and Duran opened up the space for the former to crash an effort off the post.
Ex-City youth player Rogers was not to be denied with his second of sight of goal though after 65 minutes.
The 22-year-old turned from creator to scorer on this occasion and he started the move with a bursting run down the middle and then received a pass from McGinn before he dispatched across Ortega.
Two goals down and City’s confidence looked shot to bits with a tame and toothless attack, a frustrated Erling Haaland in particular was unable to bring any spark to the game.
City pulled one back with a minute to play as Foden took advantage of Lucas Digne’s slip before he finished beyond Martinez from close range.
But it was the Villa faithful singing at the end.
