Manchester City suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season as Nicolas Jackson's double earned Aston Villa a 2-1 victory at Villa Park. Unai Emery's side continued its turnaround in form after a slow start, picking up a fourth straight win across all competitions and its first league victory at home this season.
Manchester City do not enjoy visiting Villa Park and have now lost their last four league games there, while Enzo Maresca saw his 100% league start as City boss vanish. The defeat meant that Arsenal were able to draw level on points with City at the top of the table after beating Everton 2-0 at the Emirates, although City remain top on goal difference.
Another tough afternoon for City began when Marc Guéhi's mistake allowed Jackson to give Villa an early lead in the sixth minute. Villa had keeper Zion Suzuki to thank for several vital saves, and Iliman Ndiaye crashed an effort off the post as Villa held strong to take the lead into the break. Erling Haaland grabbed his ninth league goal of the season to get City level, but Jackson buried his second of the afternoon on the hour mark to hand Villa the points.
City threw everything at getting an equalizer late on. Haaland thought he had nodded City level for a second time, but his header was blocked by Ian Maatsen as Villa took the points. The visitors were also greeted with boos from the away crowd ahead of kickoff after they were found guilty of serious breaches of the competition's financial regulations last month.
Source: ESPN Soccer · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing