Aston Villa dealt a new blow to Pep Guardiola's Manchester Citywho since the severe injury suffered by Rodri, the last winner of the Ballon d'Or, has not lifted his head. They won 2-1 thanks to goals from Colombian Jhon Durán and Morgan Rogers (Phil Foden scored a goal near the end) and remain firmly at the top of the Premier League standings. As is customary, Emiliano Back Martínez was once again a figure and fundamental part for those led by the Spanish Unai Emery.
From the beginning, the Villains sought to gain strength at Villa Park, turning German Stefan Ortega into a figure, saving an incredible one-on-one before the minute of play and then deflecting a good header after a corner.
The Argentine goalkeeper, who was once again awarded The Best award for the best goalkeeper in the world, He demonstrated his scrolls in one of the few dangerous situations that a lackluster citizen team managed to put together.. After a good wall inside the area between Rico Lewis and Phil Foden, the winger tried a shot to place, but the world champion in Qatar and two-time American champion with the Argentine team showed his talent to avoid the danger. Besides, At the end of the first half he had a clash with Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland.
The locals had several dangerous situations, but between the posts, poor aim or being offside, they were unable to increase the score. With this result, Aston Villa managed to return to victory after the loss against Nottingham Forest last day and climbed positions in the Premier League. They passed their current rival and placed themselves in sixth place with 28 points (eight less than the leader Liverpool, who visits Tottenham on Sunday), which allows them to be in the Europa League zone.
The Argentine midfielder Emiliano Buendía entered the epilogue of the match in place of Morgan Rogers.
It is worth noting that those from Birmingham are also protagonists on the international level. On their return to the Champions League they appear in direct qualifying positions for the round of 16 with two games remaining until the end of the group stage (on Tuesday, January 21, they will visit Monaco and on Wednesday, the 29th, they will host Celtic).
Manchester City, for its part, received a new blow to the chin and suffered its third consecutive defeat (they had just lost against Juventus and the classic against Manchester United). With this result, the Citizens fell to sixth place with 27 points and put their qualifying position in international competitions at risk, since they are the last to enter a cup (Conference League) and at the end of the day they could be surpassed by Bournemouth ( visit United), Fulham (host Southampton) or Brighton (will go to West Ham's home).
A fact that reflects the bad moment of those led by the Spaniard is that they only won in one of their last 11 games, which meant they were relegated at the local level and with little room for error in the Champions League, where they are located. in 22nd place (ahead of them is a visit to Paris Saint Germain and hosting Bruges).
ASTON VILLA 2-1 MANCHESTER CITY:
