Villa defeats Man City for the first time since August, with Cash on target
Aston Villa defeated Manchester City 1-0 on Sunday, their fourth consecutive Premier League victory, thanks to a goal from Matty Cash in the first half. It was Manchester City’s first defeat in ten games across all competitions.
After nine games, City trailed leaders Arsenal by six points following their first defeat since August. Villa is one point behind City despite going undefeated in their past six league games.
After scoring his second league goal of the season, Cash told the BBC, “We work a lot on set-pieces, over the last couple of years there have been a lot of set-pieces that have won us games and today is no different.”
“We’ve been doing great over the past month. really strong on defense. We have simply remained united as a team. And they always support us at Villa Park.”
Early on, Villa tried to find Ollie Watkins with counters and long balls, and in the third minute, Emiliano Buendia’s attempt went over the crossbar. In the sixth minute, Tijjani Reijnders came close to giving City the lead, but his shot missed the mark.
Buendia’s corner gave the home team the lead in the 19th minute. Cash got the ball just outside the box and put his left foot into the bottom right corner, past a defenseless Gianluigi Donnarumma of City.
Two minutes later, Norway international Erling Haaland broke past Villa’s defense and came close to equalizing, but goalie Emiliano Martinez stopped him.
Despite losing Buendia to a right foot injury close to the half, Villa continued to apply pressure. Ten minutes later, Morgan Rogers headed wide off John McGinn’s cross, and Watkins’ header off Lucas Digne’s corner was blocked.
EDGE CITY VILLA
Following the interval, Villa’s defense held up well during a tumultuous period close to the hour mark when Savinho attempted two attempts on goal, but defender Pau Torres blocked the first one and scooped the second attempt over the bar from the edge of the goal line.
In the 69th minute, Villa had two chances to increase their lead when Jadon Sancho, who had taken Buendia’s place, cut in from the left and attempted to shoot Donnarumma twice, but the Italian goalkeeper blocked both shots.
Six minutes later, Watkins chased a through ball into City’s area with just the keeper to beat, but Donnarumma was fast to slide down and keep it out.
As City struggled to find an equalizer and suffered their third consecutive loss at Villa Park, Haaland, who had scored in his past 12 club and national games, hit the net near the 90th minute but it was disallowed for an offside in the build-up.
“We were two seconds late for every bout because of our terrible pressing. “We didn’t play well when our pressing wasn’t good, even though our offensive concepts were pretty good,” City captain Bernardo Silva told Sky Sports.
“There is still much work to be done. I do not wish to make too many assumptions. Although we would want to be at the top, we aren’t.
Villa’s league campaign continues on Saturday when they play title-holders Liverpool, while City travels to Swansea City on Wednesday for a League Cup match.
