ASTON VILLA-MANCHESTER CITY 2-1
At Villa Park there is a match between two teams both coming off a painful defeat in the league. City comes from the sensational comeback suffered against United in the final minutes of the derby, while the Villans come from the defeat on the Nottingham Forest pitch. The hosts started very strongly and forced Ortega to make three decisive saves in the first minute and a half of the match: the German goalkeeper surpassed himself above all on Pau Torres' header, saving on the goal line with a sensational save. However, the former Arminia Bielefeld had to give in in the 16th minute: Aston Villa hit City centrally and Duran placed Rogers' assist on goal which made it 1-0. Foden then tries to light up the guests in the 35th minute, dirtying Emi Martinez's gloves in the only real dangerous action in a first half of great suffering for Guardiola's team. Every time Villa starts on the counterattack, City trembles: in the 51st minute it is only the linesman's flag that saves the Manchester team, with Duran's second goal canceled out for offside. In the 60th minute Rogers instead hit the outside post, giving the Villans a 2-0 lead five minutes later. In full recovery, Foden scores his first goal of the league, but it doesn't change the fate of the match. Manchester City's nightmare is therefore confirmed as endless for the moment: Guardiola's team suffers their ninth defeat in the last twelve matches (in all competitions) and remains on 27 points in the league. Liverpool could potentially fly to +15, winning tomorrow against Tottenham and in injury time against Everton (date yet to be established). Thanks to today's success, Aston Villa rises to 28 points, overtaking the Citizens in the standings.
