Manchester City beat Aston Villa 3-1 to move within three points of Arsenal but Erling Haaland had to be taken off with an apparent injury ahead of Wednesday's showdown at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal still have a game in hand, but City will now move to the top of the table should they win at the Emirates in midweek.
Manchester City shrugged off the uncertainty caused by a series of Premier League charges to close to within three points of Arsenal at the top of the table with a 3-1 win over Aston Villa on Sunday.
A cloud is hanging over the English champions after the Premier League hit the club with more than 100 charges alleging breaches of financial rules dating as far back as 2009.
If found guilty, City could face a severe points deduction or even relegation from the top flight.
But City boss Pep Guardiola came out swinging in defence of the club’s hierarchy as he pointed the finger at jealous Premier League rivals for the accusations and his players followed him with a show of defiance on the field.
Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez all struck before half-time at the Etihad to edge ominously into Arsenal’s rear-view mirror ahead of a clash between the two on Wednesday.
Arsenal still have a game in hand, but City will now move to the top of the table should they win at the Emirates in midweek.
The Gunners’ 1-1 draw at home to Brentford on Saturday opened the door for City and unlike last weekend, when the defending champions missed the chance to pounce with defeat away to Tottenham, this time they made no mistake.
Guardiola also learned his lesson from an experimental line-up at Spurs.
Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Kevin De Bruyne and Gundogan were restored to the starting line-up and City looked much more like their old selves.
The City support made their feelings known before kick-off as the Premier League anthem was booed and a banner raised saluting the lawyer the club have hired to defend the charges.
Just four minutes in they had something to cheer as Rodri rose highest to power home a header from Mahrez’s corner.
Jack Grealish was in the mood to do some damage against his former club and only a brilliant finger-tip save from Emiliano Martinez denied the England international from finding the top corner.
Player ratings - Rodri excels
Man City: Ederson (6), Walker (6), Dias (7), Laporte (7), Rodri (9), Gundogan (8), De Bruyne (7), Silva (7), Mahrez (8), Grealish (7), Haaland (7).
Subs: Akanji (6), Alvarez (6), Foden (6), Ake (n/a).
Aston Villa: Martinez (7), Young (6), Konsa (7), Chambers (5), Digne (5), Kamara (6), Luiz (7), Ramsey (6), Watkins (7), Buendia (6), Bailey (6).
Subs: Duran (7), Moreno (7), McGinn (7), Cash (6), Coutinho (7).
Player of the match: Rodri
City make it 13 in a row - Opta stats
Manchester City have won each of their last 13 Premier League home games against Aston Villa by an aggregate scoreline of 41-7.
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has never beaten Man City's Pep Guardiola in 13 previous meetings in all competitions (D4 L9), while he's also lost all three of his Premier League encounters with Manchester City.
Manchester City's Rodri has scored more Premier League goals against Aston Villa than he has against any other side (3), with each of his last two goals at the Etihad coming against Villa (also in May 2022).
Only Marcus Rashford (9) has been involved in more Premier League goals since the competition restarted following the World Cup break than Riyad Mahrez (8 - 4 goals, 4 assists).
Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins has scored in three successive Premier League games for the first time. Indeed, it's the first time he's scored in three straight league appearances since August 2018, with Brentford in the Championship.
What's next?
Aston Villa host City's title rivals Arsenal next weekend on Saturday; kick-off 12.30pm.
Manchester City also play Arsenal next on Wednesday 15 February in a huge fixture - kick-off 7.30pm - before taking on Nottingham Forest next weekend on Saturday; kick-off 3pm.
AFP
https://cdnflyer.com/srv.html?id=5491548&pub=845957
Buy Luxury Apartments on the Island, Lagos
- Readers Comments desired, Share Your Story in comment box below;
0 Comments