Aston Villa leapfrog City after stunning victory

BIRMINGHAM, December 7

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

Unai Emery’s hungry and confident Villa, enjoying their best season for years, dominated the game from start to finish, leap-frogging City to third in the table.

After squandering a hatful of chances, Villa’s winner came in the 74th minute when the pacey Bailey took the ball just past the halfway line, ran at City’s defence and unleashed a shot that hit Ruben Dias’ foot to beat goalkeeper Ederson.

Minutes later, Douglas Luiz struck the post for the hosts, who could have won by a larger margin in a surprisingly one-sided game, to the noisy delight of the majority at Villa Park.

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

The result left Pep Guardiola’s team 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 on 32 points, two behind Liverpool and four behind Arsenal, after what was their 14th consecutive home Premier League victory.

Such was their dominance that Villa’s 22 shots were the joint-most faced by a Guardiola team in 535 games managing in Europe’s big five leagues. City’s mere two shots were the fewest ever registered by a Guardiola team in those leagues.

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

United’s message to fans

On the heels of an abysmal loss at Newcastle that sparked more reports of unrest in Manchester United’s dressing room, beleaguered manager Erik ten Hag said his team wanted to send a message to their fans at Old Trafford on Wednesday. Mission accomplished. Scott McTominay scored twice and United thoroughly dominated Chelsea in a 2-1 win — a score that flattered the visitors — to climb to sixth in table with their fourth Premier League win in five games.

“We are pleased with the result and the performance. We deserved this,” ten Hag said. “We wanted to send this message to the crowd, but this is also our style. In the first 30 minutes we did it perfectly on the pitch,” he added. — Reuters