BIRMINGHAM: Aston Villa beat crisis-hit Manchester City 2-1 on Saturday to heap more misery on floundering manager Pep Guardiola, who has now suffered nine defeats in his past 12 matches.
Jhon Duran finished off a fine team move to give the home side an early lead and Morgan Rogers doubled Villa’s advantage in the 65th minute.
Phil Foden scored his first Premier League goal of the season in stoppage time but it proved to be too little too late.
Pep Guardiola, in the worst run of his glittering career, said Friday that “sooner or later” things will turn around but City’s fear factor has vanished.
The win lifts Unai Emery’s inconsistent Villa team to fifth in the Premier League table, one place above sinking City.
Guardiola made six changes to the team side that lost last week’s Manchester derby, bringing in goalkeeper Stefan Ortega and reshaping his defense with Rico Lewis, John Stones and Manuel Akanji.
Mateo Kovacic and Jack Grealish also returned.
But the defending champions started the match in chaotic fashion and could have been behind inside 20 seconds.
Untidy work from Josko Gvardiol allowed John McGinn to steal the ball and he fed Duran, whose shot from outside the box was pushed behind by Ortega.
Villa were millimeters away from taking the lead from the resulting corner, with Ortega, in for first-choice goalkeeper Ederson, producing a superb save to deny Pau Torres.
City then settled and their possession numbers topped 75 percent but they created little.
Instead it was Villa who took the lead through Duran after a superb team move, scoring his seventh Premier League goal of the season.
Youri Tielemans delivered a wonderful defense-splitting pass to Rogers, who burst through City’s backline with ease before finding Duran on his right and the Colombian international finished crisply.
Phil Foden tested Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez in the 35th minute after an incisive move involving Lewis.
And Gvardiol squandered a glorious chance moments before half-time, heading over a Grealish cross.
Guardiola brought on Kyle Walker for Stones at the break.
Minutes into the second half Villa’s Matty Cash lashed an attempt into the side netting after a speedy attack before Duran had a strike ruled out for offside.
Rogers hit the foot of the post just before the hour mark after an intricate team move down the left.
Emery’s men doubled their lead 20 minutes into the second half, with Rogers finishing unerringly from a McGinn pass.
City created little as they searched for a way back into the game until Foden pounced for a late consolation goal.
Aston Villa beat Manchester City to deepen Guardiola’s pain
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Aston Villa beat Manchester City to deepen Guardiola’s pain
- City manager in the worst run of his glittering career said Friday “sooner or later” things will turn around
Inter moves top of Serie A after Milan and Napoli drop points
- Inter won 2-1 at relegation-threatened Genoa to move a point ahead of Milan and two points above Napoli, which lost 1-0 at Udinese
MILAN: Teenage defender Davide Bartesaghi scored his first senior goals but couldn’t prevent AC Milan from being held to a 2-2 draw at home to Sassuolo and being overtaken at the top of Serie A by city rival Inter Milan on Sunday.
Inter won 2-1 at relegation-threatened Genoa to move a point ahead of Milan and two points above Napoli, which lost 1-0 at Udinese.
At San Siro, Ismaël Koné gave Sassuolo a surprise lead in the 13th minute but Milan leveled in the 34th as Ruben Loftus-Cheek rolled the ball across the area for Bartesaghi to power in from close range.
The 19-year-old Bartesaghi doubled his tally immediately after halftime when he ran onto Christopher Nkunku’s smart pass and fired inside the near post.
Christian Pulisic and Loftus-Cheek both had goals disallowed for Milan before Sassuolo equalized in the 77th minute through substitute Armand Laurienté.
Laurienté, who had changed the match when he came on, almost scored a stunning winner in the 88th minute following a solo run from his own half but his effort crashed off the left post.
Napoli stunned
Napoli knew it could move atop the standings following Milan’s result.
However, it was Udinese that had the better of the chances and twice thought it had broken the deadlock only to have both goals struck off on video review.
Keinan Davis’s strike was ruled out in the 52nd minute for offside and Nicolò Zaniolo also saw his effort chalked off in the 69th because there was a foul in the buildup.
Between those decisions, Udinese also hit the crossbar through Jakub Piotrowski.
The hosts finally broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute when Jurgen Ekkelenkamp curled a magnificent strike into the far top corner from outside the area.
Rasmus Højlund should have leveled two minutes from time but he somehow fired over an open goal from point-blank range, while Lorenzo Lucca — who joined Napoli from Udinese in July — hit the post in stoppage time.
Inter goes top
Instead it was Inter which moved into the sole lead of Serie A with what looked set to be a routine win, until the final 25 minutes.
Yann Bisseck got Inter off to a perfect start with an early goal and Lautaro Martínez doubled his side’s advantage shortly before halftime.
Vitinha pulled one back for Genoa midway through the second half after squeezing his way through two defenders and rounding Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
Genoa was two points off the relegation zone.
Fiorentina jokes
Gift Emmanuel Orban scored twice — including in stoppage time — as Hellas Verona won 2-1 at last-placed Fiorentina in a relegation battle to move to within two points of safety.
Fiorentina was without a win and eight points from safety. Its fans displayed a banner addressing their Verona counterparts with the words “whoever finishes last pays for the drinks.”
