Aston Villa 1-0 Manchester City (6 Dec, 2023) Game Analysis

Aston Villa stunned Manchester City with a well-deserved 1-0 win on Wednesday thanks to a deflected Leon Bailey shot, leaving the reigning Premier League champions in an unfamiliar fourth position and six points off the top.

Unai Emery's Villa, enjoying their best season in years, was brimming with confidence and dominated the game throughout, edging City into third place in the table.

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After wasting numerous chances, Villa's winner came in the 74th minute when Bailey took the ball just past the halfway line, ran towards the City defense and fired a shot which hit the foot of Ruben Dias to beat goalkeeper Ederson.

Minutes later, Douglas Luiz hit the post for the hosts, who could have won by a greater margin in a surprisingly one-sided match, much to the delight of the Villa Park majority.

“It was a great game, a great night for the fans, a great night for Aston Villa,” Bailey said. “To win and be the one to score the goal is a great feeling.”

The result left Pep Guardiola's Manchester City on 30 points after 15 games – six points behind leaders Arsenal – and without a win in their last four Premier League matches.

Aston Villa moved up to third place with 32 points, two behind Liverpool and four behind Arsenal, after their 14th consecutive home win in the Premier League.

Such was their dominance that Villa's 13 first-half shots were the most ever faced by a Pep Guardiola side in the first half of a match in his 535 games in charge in Europe's big five leagues .

As City's usually comfortable defense looked rattled and sloppy, Villa rushed forward, with Bailey and then Pau Torres forcing Éderson into two terrific saves early on.

Ollie Watkins also saw a shot spilled, while Luiz had a goal disallowed as the ball had just gone out of play, and John McGinn missed the goal with only Ederson to beat.

City's best moment inevitably came from prolific striker Erling Haaland, but Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez was equal to the challenge, making a fantastic double save to stop his shot and then a header seconds later.

“Today Aston Villa played better and we struggled, especially in the first half,” admitted Guardiola.

“The challenge now goes to Luton and trying to win the game,” he added, referring to City's next game on Sunday. “As a coach, I have to find a way to pick them up and win games. Now we're struggling a little bit.”