Matty Cash’s first-half goal earned Aston Villa an excellent 1-0 win over Manchester City, whose Premier League title hopes took an early blow.
Cash fired home from the edge of the area in the 19th minute and that proved enough for a fourth league win in a row for Villa, who celebrated Unai Emery’s third anniversary in charge in style.
It was a third successive home victory over Pep Guardiola’s side, who fell six points behind leaders Arsenal and face the prospect of another hunt of Mikel Arteta’s side after Christmas.
City were stifled excellently by a perfect Villa gameplan and Erling Haaland was stopped from scoring for just the second time this season in all competitions, ending a 12-game spree.
Such a run of results against Guardiola’s side would not have seemed possible before Emery arrived at Villa Park in October 2022, transforming their fortunes.
And after a slow start to the campaign, they again look like challenging at the top end of the Premier League.
City’s best period of the game came in the opening 10 minutes and they were close to an opener in the sixth minute when Tijjani Reijnders flashed an effort just over from the edge of the area.
