Wednesday, April 21, 2021 at 11:04 PM• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk

Manchester City have recovered from defeats against Leeds United (1-2, Premier League) and Chelsea (1-0, FA Cup). Pep Guardiola’s team was 1-2 too strong for Aston Villa in the Premier League on Wednesday, despite a lightning-fast goal against and a red card just before half-time. The victory brings Manchester City to 77 points from 33 matches. City rivals Manchester United has eleven points less, but also a duel less.

The first half in Birmingham, where star players such as Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne were missing due to injuries, was definitely there. Manchester City have only once before had a faster goal against in the Premier League than Wednesday night at Villa Park. In January 2003, Alan Shearer was already accurate after eleven seconds and John McGinn needed only twenty seconds to pass Ederson. John Stones was unable to prevent a pass from Tyrone Mings from reaching Ollie Watkins, who immediately delivered the ball from the left to McGinn in the penalty area. The midfielder shot the ball in one go diagonally and low in the right corner: 1-0.

A good attack was at the base of Manchester City’s 1-1 after more than twenty minutes: the ball went from the left to the right of the penalty area, after which Riyad Mahrez passed the ball to Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden tapped in his low pass. Five minutes before half time, Bernardo Silva led in another goal. Rodri climbed the highest in the air and nodded the ball behind the late Emiliano Martínez. The Guardiola’s team went into the rest with mixed feelings. Referee Peter Bankes gave Stones a yellow card for a charge on Jacob Ramsey, but after watching the footage of the moment, he still chose to send the defender off the field with a red card.

Guardiola immediately intervened at half-time and exchanged Gabriel Jesus for a defender, Aymeric Laporte. However, Manchester City was on the field for less than fifteen minutes with a man less in the second half. Matty Cash was booked twice in a matter of minutes and both for fouls against Foden. A hard blow for Aston Villa, which did not know what to do with the defense of the visitors and could not force an equalizer. Anwar El Ghazi came in for Bertrand Traoré fifteen minutes before the end, while Nathan Aké did not leave the bench at the Citizens.