The Norway hitman had two shots within 30 seconds in the 11th minute, and then went missing as City were soundly outplayed by their high-flying hosts

Champions The high-flying Aston Villa team soundly defeated Manchester City on Wednesday night, giving them further ground loss in the Premier League title battle. The score of 1-0 does not tell the whole story.

City labored all game, with possibly their greatest opening coming after 11 minutes when Emiliano Martinez made two outstanding saves to deny Erling Haaland twice in a row after he was passed through on goal. That was, in fact, their lone goal-scoring opportunity for the whole ninety minutes.

When Villa had the ball all the time, they more than frightened City because elite players made simple mistakes.

Indeed, in the second half, with the game wearing on, Villa looked like the only team capable of scoring, and Leon Bailey did just that – seeing his shot from range deflect off Ruben Dias and into the back of the net.

This was a dire performance from Guardiola’s side, who are now fourth, behind third-placed Villa, and six points behind leaders Arsenal.

We rates City’s players from Villa Park…

Ederson (7/10):

Denied Torres with an excellent save and was repeatedly called into action, keeping City in the game. Beaten by the deflection on Bailey’s shot. Blameless.

Kyle Walker (4/10):

Didn’t win many duels all night as Watkins and McGinn applied an effective squeeze.

Struggled at times down the right and gave the ball away multiple times. Villa kept him in his own half, hugely limiting his effectiveness.

Ruben Dias (5/10):

Some excellent interceptions but did not look hugely comfortable against Ollie Watkins and deflected Bailey’s effort beyond Ederson. Looked aghast at some of the play in front of him.

Josko Gvardiol (6/10):

Made a goal-saving tackle to deny Youri Tielemans in the first half, but only after giving the ball away. Continued to step in with bold blocks, and seemed to relish the pace of the game.

A rough night up against Bailey where he was beaten more often than not by the tricky winger

John Stones (5/10):

Booked for a cynical challenge on the stroke of half-time. Did step into midfield when he could but could not exert too much influence on the play, with City often overrun.

Centre-back, right-back, holding midfield or secondary striker. A few signs of rustiness but City are a better team with him in it.

Manuel Akanji (5/10):

Alert to cut out a number of dangerous situations

Alongside Stones in a more advanced role, but could not cope with Villa’s pace and was run absolutely ragged.

Bernardo Silva (5/10):

One of his worst performances for a while, needlessly giving the ball away and making poor decisions to put City under pressure

Always effective on the ball but seemed slightly uncomfortable on the right, and was marshalled well by Digne.

Rico Lewis (5/10):

Constantly on the move and willing to receive the ball. His influence waned, and he was booked for an obvious shirt pull on Douglas Luiz as he broke away and was subbed after the hour.

Phil Foden (6/10):

Played in Haaland early on and showed more than any other forward before another early sub

Some nice touches but an airshot rather summed up his evening, as he couldn’t get the final ball right. Subbed for Oscar Bobb with 20 minutes left.

Julian Alvarez (4/10):

Did his best to drop in and link play but was feeding off scraps and could not find Haaland with any regularity. Subbed. A frustrating evening.

Erling Haaland (4/10):

Worked hard defensively but otherwise struggled to be on the same wavelength as Foden

Denied by a superb Martinez double save early on but that was his only impact. His shots came in the 11th minute, and thereafter, he was completely anonymous – due in large part to Villa’s superb defending.

Subs

Mateo Kovacic (5/10):

On for Alvarez. Could not stem the tide.

Matheus Nunes (5/10):

Replaced Lewis. Barely able to touch the ball.

Oscar Bobb (5/10):

On for Foden. Had no impact.