MAN CITY STUNNED AS VILLA HAND FIRST DEFEAT SINCE AUGUST

Aston Villa's 1-0 win over Manchester City, courtesy of a Matty Cash strike, deals a major blow to City's title hopes. Unai Emery's tactical masterclass stifled Pep Guardiola's side at Villa Park.

Man City stunned as Villa hand first defeat since August
Pep Guardiola - Photo Credit: Getty Images

Aston Villa defeated Manchester City, whose chances of winning the Premier League title were dashed early on, 1-0, thanks to a fantastic first-half performance by Matty Cash.

Villa celebrated Unai Emery's third anniversary as manager in style with a fourth consecutive league victory, which was secured by Cash's goal from the edge of the box in the 19th minute.

It was the third straight home win for Pep Guardiola's team, who now trail leaders Arsenal by six points and could have to contend with Mikel Arteta's team again after Christmas.

A flawless Villa strategy effectively smothered City, and Erling Haaland's 12-game scoring run was ended when he was prevented from scoring for just the second time this season across all competitions.

Before Emery changed their fortunes at Villa Park in October 2022, it would not have appeared conceivable for them to enjoy such a run of results against Guardiola's team.

They also appear to be a threat at the top end of the Premier League following a sluggish start to the season.

The first ten minutes of the game were City's best, and in the sixth minute, Tijjani Reijnders came within a hair's breadth of opening the score with a flashing attempt.

However, Villa took charge and won a set-piece in the 19th minute, which proved to be the game-changing moment.

The ball was crossed to the edge of the area by Emiliano Buendia after they took a short corner, and Cash caught it before launching a low shot over his body that curled into the bottom corner.

Three minutes later, Haaland made an unusual miss that would have put City level.

The Norwegian was slid in by Bernardo Silva after he evaded the offside trap, but Emiliano Martinez missed his effort.

Villa pressed for a second, but that was as good as it got.

When he had time and space on the edge of the box, John McGinn might have thought he would score, but his shot missed by a little margin after deflecting off John Stones.

Ollie Watkins saw a free header denied from the next corner.

Early in the second half, McGinn nearly scored a lovely shot after meeting a corner, but it was blocked.

On the hour, City stepped up their efforts to equalise, but were thwarted by some valiant defending when Savinho's ferocious shot was stopped by Ezri Konsa, and Pau Torres was on the goalline to deny the Brazilian's second attempt.

Jadon Sancho, who was brought in as an early substitute for the injured Buendia, had a quiet game but had two chances from close range in the 69th minute that Gianluigi Donnarumma saved to double the lead.

As the hosts persisted in their attack, the outstanding Watkins came just short of being able to catch Ross Barkley's through-ball before the on-loan Manchester United player was replaced.

In the 89th minute, City threw everything forward in an attempt to equalise, and they believed they had done so when Haaland slid in at the far post, but Phil Foden was offside throughout the build-up.

PEP GUARDIOLA REFUSES TO GUARANTEE RODRI’S RETURN FOR MONDAY’S PREMIER LEAGUE CLASH

Pep Guardiola provides the latest injury news on Rodri, Ruben Dias, and Josko Gvardiol ahead of a crucial title race clash at Everton.

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Rodri still absent from City training ahead of vital Everton trip - Photo Credit: Getty Images

Pep Guardiola has shared the latest on Manchester City's injury situation ahead of Monday’s Premier League match against Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

City is in good form right now. They came from behind to beat Southampton 2-1 in the FA Cup semi-final last weekend, making it six wins in a row across all competitions.

But they’ve had to do it without Rodri. He's missed their last two matches, including a tight 1-0 win at Burnley, after hurting his groin against Arsenal a couple of weeks back. Guardiola recently told reporters that Rodri is getting better, but the team’s been cautious and isn’t rushing him back.

At his latest press conference on Friday, Guardiola said Rodri still hasn’t returned to training, so they’re just taking it day by day. There's hope, but Guardiola wouldn’t give any guarantees about Rodri’s chances of playing against Everton. "He’s getting better. Still, he didn't train with us, so we’ll see in the next few days,” he said. When pressed about his confidence, Pep just replied, “I am always confident.”

With Rodri still not training, it sounds like a last-minute decision on whether he’ll play. A start against Everton seems unlikely. That probably means Nico González, who scored the winner against Southampton, will keep his spot in midfield next to Bernardo Silva. Maybe Nico O’Reilly slides into central midfield, too, if he isn’t covering at left-back.

It’s not all good news in defence either. Ruben Dias is still out with the ankle injury that’s kept him sidelined for the last six games, and Josko Gvardiol is recovering from the tibial fracture he picked up in January. Both are working their way back, and Guardiola says they’re improving, but there’s no sign of a return just yet.

Turning to the Everton game, City could head into it trailing Arsenal by six points if the Gunners beat Fulham on Saturday. With the title race this tight, City can’t afford to slip up.

Guardiola knows Monday will be tough. “Everton have always been tough,” he said. “Old Everton was so cool and so British, and I loved to go there, but in the new stadium, they are defending really well, and it has always been tough." He’s not taking recent Everton results lightly, adding, 'They're fighting for a place in Europe. We won with two or three actions here, but we were not good at that moment. We can’t have any result but win, win, win.”

Everton won’t be easy, especially away, but City can at least take confidence from their strong record of 17 league games unbeaten against the Toffees. They won the reverse fixture 2-0, with Haaland scoring both goals. Still, Guardiola isn’t expecting it to be straightforward.

MANCHESTER CITY’S REQUEST TO RESCHEDULE PIVOTAL PREMIER LEAGUE TIES BRUTALLY DENIED

The Premier League has rejected Man City’s plea to swap Palace and Bournemouth matches. See City's brutal end-of-season schedule.

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Pep Guardiola’s domestic treble hunt faces a major hurdle after league fixture refusal - Photo Credit: AFP via Getty Images

Manchester City are on the hunt for another domestic treble just seven years after the last one. Pep Guardiola pulled it off in 2018/19 with wins in the Premier League, FA Cup, and Carabao Cup. Now he's got his sights set on doing it again.

City’s deep run in the cups has created a mess for their league schedule. Their home game against Crystal Palace, which was supposed to happen during the Carabao Cup final weekend on March 22, got bumped. Same thing with their trip to Bournemouth, originally set for the day after the FA Cup final.

There’s a hold-up with rescheduling Palace; the Eagles’ Conference League semi-final run means they’ve got barely any free midweek dates. The match was pencilled in for Wednesday, May 13, but things got complicated when City reached the FA Cup Final, and Bournemouth got postponed too. The city asked the Premier League if they could play Bournemouth on Tuesday, May 12, then face Palace a week later, to squeeze in an extra recovery day before the Wembley showdown. Plus, that would give them the bonus of finishing their last two league games at home. But the Premier League usually insists that the fixture that was originally scheduled first in this case, Palace, gets played first.

According to The Mirror, City’s request was shot down. So now Guardiola’s team has to cram their last four matches into just 12 days: Palace visits on May 13, then the FA Cup Final, Bournemouth away on May 19, and finally wrapping things up at home to Aston Villa on May 24.

They couldn't play Bournemouth on May 20 because that’s the Europa League final night, and UEFA didn’t want any Premier League games stealing the spotlight when Aston Villa or Nottingham Forest could be involved.

The Mirror says the revised fixture dates and kick-off times are coming out today. Chelsea, also FA Cup finalists, will play their rescheduled match against Tottenham on May 19.

City still has to travel to Everton next Monday and host Brentford on Saturday, May 9. Then comes their jam-packed finish, starting with Palace.

Meanwhile, title rivals Arsenal will be hoping City’s crowded schedule works in their favour. Though Arsenal has its own challenge, a Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid is spread across the next two midweeks.

Arsenal closes out its league campaign with home games against Fulham and Burnley and trips to West Ham and Palace.

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