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Aston Villa v Manchester City : The defending Premier League champions raced out to a comfortable halftime jumper cable and held for a catchy 2-1 victory at Villa Park on Wednesday.

[ MORE: How to watch PL in USA ] The victory keeps Manchester City ( 32 points ) merely one point and identify back of Chelsea, who besides won on Wednesday, in the Premier League mesa. For Aston Villa, it ’ s the foremost frustration under fresh director Steven Gerrard, though they remain 13th in the table. Jack Grealish made a brief come back to Villa Park as an 87th-minute alternate .

Aston Villa vs Manchester City final score, stats, results

final examination mark : Aston Villa 1, Manchester City 2 goal scorers : Aston Villa ( Watkins 47′ ), Manchester City ( Dias 27′, Silva 43′ ) Shots : Aston Villa 9, Manchester City 17 Shots on target : Aston Villa 3, Manchester City 7 monomania : Aston Villa 36 %, Manchester City 64 %

3 things we learned – Aston Villa vs Manchester City

1. When they look like Barcelona : Every few games, Manchester City will do something — it can be adenine belittled as a single enactment of free rein, or ampere large as a suffocatingly dominant possession operation where you ask yourself, half-seriously, “ Have they perfected football ? ” — to trick you into thinking you ’ ra watching Guardiola ’ s flower Barcelona side from early last ten. There ’ second an effortlessness to the way they operate, when they ’ rhenium in full stream, it ’ s a sight to be hold. Anyway, one of those flash-in-the-pan moments occurred on Wednesday. 2. Aston Villa a different side after halftime : It ’ mho become quite clean, quite cursorily, that Gerrard has plenty about him to become a fantastic director. Aston Villa were defensively dominant in his beginning two games, and though they conceded a couple of first-half goals to a very thoroughly side on Wednesday, Gerrard sent them back out for the moment half with very different ideas and a newfound motivation that wasn ’ t deficient, per selenium, in the first half, but the extra edge was surely detectable. They got a goal within two minutes and put a few more scares into Guardiola ’ s side than he would have liked. Aston Villa fans ( and Liverpool fans ), be excited.

3. Title race to take form in next 7 games : As discussed here, Liverpool have a relatively aboveboard adjacent six Premier League fixtures, before facing leaders Chelsea on Jan. 2. similarly, Manchester City should be dropping many, if any, points over their adjacent seven games, which leads them to their own collide with the Blues ( Jan. 15 ). Watford away, Wolves home, Leeds family, Newcastle off, Leicester home and Brentford away. There ’ s a good probability those three sides are separated by one or two points before six-pointers begin. Man of the Match : Ruben Dias – Scored the opening goal and continues to prove he ’ south one of, if not, the best defenders in the Premier League .

Aston Villa vs Manchester City highlights

Ruben Dias hammers Man City undoer past Emiliano Martinez ( goal video )

Raheem Sterling sprinted toward the end pipeline and cut the ball back, out of the 18-yard box, for Dias, who was arriving a act late but with full moon military unit and momentum .

Bernardo Silva smashes sensational volley for 2-0 ( goal video recording )

Goal of the Season campaigner ( above video ). The finish up address for itself, but the ball from Gabriel Jesus and the ease with which Manchester City played out of trouble and transitioned from one end to the other… it ’ second unfair when they play like that. [ VIDEO: PL highlights ] 

Ollie Watkins pulls Aston Villa back to 2-1 equitable after halftime ( goal television )

Douglas Luiz ’ s corner kick was gloomy and well inadequate of the near post, but Watkins had the perfect design for such an improbable grade opportunity.

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