Paul Doyle’s match report has landed, so I’ll leave you with that. Thanks for your company - bye!
That win puts City two points ahead of Leicester, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they ran away with second place from here.
In other news
Full time: Aston Villa 1-6 Man City
That was the last kick of the game. City brutalised an under-strength Villa, and at one stage it looked like the Premier League record victory of 9-0 would be under threat. Instead, Sergio Aguero broke two big records: the most Premier League goals by a foreign player (177, two more than Thierry Henry) and the most hat-tricks by anyone (12, one more than Alan Shearer).
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GOAL! Aston Villa 1-6 Manchester City (El Ghazi 90+1 pen)
El Ghazi scores emphatically. You can’t call it a consolation goal, really, but it was an excellent penalty.
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PENALTY TO VILLA. Gundogan dangles a leg, Trezeguet trips over it and Villa have a penalty, VAR permitting.
87 min Grealish misses a decent chance, hoofing into orbit from the left side of the box.
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86 min Villa almost get a non-consolation goal. Trezeguet moves into the area from the right and drills a shot that deflects wide off Gundogan.
85 min City must be so frustrated that they played silly buggers so often in the first half of the season, because they are in awesome form now. If they were even 6-8 points behind Liverpool, we’d have an immense title race in prospect.
It’s Aguero’s 12th hat-trick, one more than Alan Shearer. Villa’s fans were sarcastically oléing as their team passed the ball around in defence. Then Hause gave it straight to Mahrez, who clipped it through to the unmarked Aguero. He ran into the area and battered a close-range shot past Nyland.
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GOAL! Aston Villa 0-6 Man City (Aguero 81)
Aguero breaks another record, this time for the most Premier League hat-tricks.
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80 min Jack Grealish is booked for dissent.
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79 min Henri Lansbury comes on for Danny Drinkwater. He didn’t have the full Woodgate, but it was still a debut to forget.
78 min City work the ball across the line of the Villa area. Eventually Foden plays in Gabriel Jesus, whose fierce shot from a tight angle is beaten around the near post by Nyland. From the resulting corner Jesus misses a better chance, sidefooting just wide from 10 yards.
76 min Meanwhile, this will be fun.
75 min “All the talk of Belgian football reminded me of the most spiteful friendly I’ve ever seen, a very workmanlike Belgium against that exquisite Dutch side of the late 1990s,” says Phil Podolsky. “Ended in a five-all draw, and included a Maradona-like slalom from Edgar Davids. What a strange game.”
I vividly recall seeing that score in the Sunday Ti- sorry, in the Observer and assuming it was a cock-up.
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74 min Okay, perhaps City have declared at 5-0. The intensity has dropped since De Bruyne went off.
72 min “At the risk of arguing with a joke (“Most competitive league in the world!”, 61 minutes) one thrashing doesn’t make it not true,” says Tom Chivers. “City lost to the worst team in the league earlier this season. Leicester beat Southampton 9-0 away then lost 2-1 at home. If by “most competitive” we mean “anyone can beat anyone” then you could probably argue it. (Except Liverpool. No one can beat them and that is just marvellous so carry on.)”
It’s not worth the trouble of an argument, but I don’t particularly agree. It was far more competitive in the 20th century, and even, briefly, in the mid-2010s. But the other big leagues have been as bad, if not worse. The Bundesliga has been great this year, mind.
71 min City’s final change: Rodri off, Ilkay Gundogan on. And Villa bring on Trezeguet for Conor Hourihane.
69 min City ping the ball around in Villa’s area before Mahrez’s shot from the edge is blocked.
65 min A Villa change: Marvelous Nakamba replaces Douglas Luiz. Lucky him.
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64 min Gabriel Jesus’s shot is kicked off the line by Mings. This could end up 10-0.
63 min A double change for City: Nicolas Otamendi and Phil Foden replace Fernandinho and Kevin De Bruyne.
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62 min Here’s James Debens, continuing our VARternative history of football. “At the beginning of Chapter 2, after Billy Whitehurst’s volcanic reaction to his goal being disallowed, a human pyramid of Fraser Forster, Peter Crouch, Harry Souttar, Wayne Hennessey, Per Mertesacker, Jan Koller, and Costel Pantilimon is used to fish Martin Atkinson from the floodlights.”
61 min There’s no sign of City declaring at 5-0, and Villa look completely shot mentally. It’s the most competitive league in the world!
60 min “Are the tactical fouls necessary at 4-0?” says David Bertram. “Fernandinho was not playing the ball there.”
He does them on autopilot.
59 min That was Sergio Aguero’s 176th Premier League goal, a new record for a foreign player. Thierry Henry scored 175.
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-5 Man City (Aguero 57)
This is hard to watch. David Silva finds an eye in the needle, sliding a fine pass between two defenders for Aguero. He moves across the area, away from Mings, and passes the ball into the corner. It took a slight deflection off Mings but it was going in anyway.
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56 min Aguero shoots straight at Nyland from 20 yards.
55 min This win will move City above Leicester and into second, just 14 poi- no, let’s not go there.
54 min “Being Belgian I have followed Kevin... for the last 12 years,” says Herman de latte. “He is close to the top of his development... he will bring Belgium the next European Championship.”
There’s a good case for him being Belgium’s greatest ever player. I’d put him above Scifo, probably above Hazard and maybe Ceulemans. It’s harder to compare him with Kompany, Gerets and Pfaff I suppose.
53 min El Ghazi is booked for leaving an arm on someone.
51 min Aguero fouls Grealish, prompting an exchange of views and shoves between the two. No yellow cards.
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50 min Fernandino does what he does best, flattening Jack Grealish to stop a Villa counter-attack and earn a yellow card.
49 min “I watched a lot of Mahrez in the miracle season hoping Leicester would drop points (us Gooners),” says Drew Lundgren. “I thought he had at least 10 penalties that weren’t called. I think Leicester could have won the title by 20 points with VAR.”
Someone should write the VARternative History of Football. In Chapter 1, Billy Whitehurst learns that his first goal in 22 games is being checked for a possible handball.
48 min “City are exceptional but Villa, Jesus wept,” weeps Niall Mullen. “If Danny Drinkwater is the answer I want to know what the question is.”
He was so good in Leicester’s title-winning team as well. Hopefully it’s just rust rather than (professional) rigor mortis.
47 min No changes on either side, since you asked.
46 min Peep peep! Villa begin the second half.
“Interestingly, Pep really only seems to struggle with free spirits and lapses in attackers,” says Joe Harvey. “He got the very best out of Dani Alves (perhaps the freest spirit to play the game) and continues to tolerate Kyle Walker and Ederson. It’s interesting - maybe forwards just don’t expect to have such detailed defensive jobs, and struggle a bit?”
This is really a question for one for the Guardian Sport SuperBrains, but to my peasant eye it’s more about individualism. He doesn’t care for people who pick the wrong passes, or don’t pass at all, which doesn’t really apply to his best full-backs.
Half-time reading
Jose’s bored already, isn’t he.
The upside of City being out of the title race is that they can just relax and play. They ended last season, when the stakes were so high, with a series of hard-fought one-goal victories. I suspect they will administer plenty of towellings between now and May.
Half time: Aston Villa 0-4 Man City
That was another demonstration of Kevin De Bruyne’s rare genius. He didn’t put the ball into an area; he looked up while he was on the run, processed where Jesus and the defenders were, and played the appropriate pass. He couldn’t have drawn it any more accurately.
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GOAL! Aston Villa 0-4 Man City (Gabriel Jesus 45+1)
Four. Kevin De Bruyne, on the right, puts in a glorious low pass - you can’t call it a cross - that is finished from close range by Gabriel Jesus.
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45 min “The decision to play Danny Drinkwater was questionable before the game,” says Stephen Carr. “Now it looks like utter madness. He’s so far off the pace it’s untrue.”
I feel a bit sorry for him. I doubt we’ll see him in the second half.
44 min There’s an example of why Pep hasn’t always been a fan of Riyad Mahrez. He leads a City break, three on two from a Villa corner, but holds on to the ball too long and the chance is lost.
41 min After a patient move, Villa’s best of the match, El Ghazi cuts back inside Joao Cancelo and sprays a rising shot just wide of the far post. Ederson had it covered but it was a good effort.
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40 min Villa’s next three Premier League games are Brighton (A), Watford (H) and Bournemouth (A). That’s the real quiz.
38 min David Silva curls a free-kick this far wide from 20 yards. The City fans cheered, thinking it had gone in.
36 min “As a Leicester fan, I’ve seen Mahrez shimmy in from the right wing loads of times,” says Martin Sinclair. “You know what’s coming but sometimes you just can’t stop it. I thought he was a great signing for City precisely because he is a bit different to everyone else. When City are desperate for a goal, he can create one out of nothing.”
I agree – he has a touch of genius, in mine – but Pep Guardiola hasn’t generally got on well with free spirits. I thought he really missed a trick by not playing Mahrez against Andy Robertson at Anfield.
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35 min This is getting embarrassing. Aguero misses a good chance to make it 4-0, rifling just over the bar after Mings makes a desperate tackle on Joao Cancelo.
31 min “Can we stop this now?” says David Bertram. “Drinkwater looks like a budget Ashley Westwood. What’s Big Sam up to? Having McGinn, Heston and Wesley out is unfortunate but a striker was needed and not having someone lined up is criminal.”
On the plus side, you’re only one game away from a Carabao Cup agains- oh.
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-3 Manchester City (Aguero 30)
For the second time this week, City go 3-0 up in the first half of an away game. De Bruyne beats Drinkwater with ease and finds Aguero, whose scorching 20-yard shot goes through the hands of the leaping Nyland.
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28 min Villa have hardly had a kick in the last 15 minutes.
26 min Gabriel Jesus stabs over the bar after a superb turn in the area.
GOAL! Aston Villa 0-2 Manchester City (Mahrez 24)
Riyad Mahrez gets his second! Poor Danny Drinkwater, making his Villa debut, is having a bit of a nightmare. He dithered in his own area and was robbed by David Silva, whose touch diverted the close across the area. It bounced up nicely for Mahrez, who smacked it past Nyland with the minimum of fuss.
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23 min The pattern of the game - City passing the ball hither and thither - suited Villa when the match was goalless. At 0-1, not so much.
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21 min Riyad Mahrez’s Manchester City career has been a mixed bag, and the feeling persists that he isn’t quite a Pep Guardiola player. But when he’s good, he’s often awesome.
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Mahrez is such a beautiful player. He received Aguero’s pass, 40 yards from goal on the right wing, and went straight at the backpedalling Villa defence. Drinkwater was the first to attempt a tackle on the edge of the area. Mahrez cut back inside him, used sleight of hip to throw Hause off balance without touching the ball and then dragged a disguised finish past Nyland at the near post.
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GOAL! Aston Villa 0-1 Man City (Mahrez 18)
Riyad Mahrez gives City the lead with a brilliant individual goal!
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16 min De Bruyne and David Silva combine to find Aguero on the right side of the area, but he slips in the act of shooting. He might have been assisted by a little push from Hause, though it wasn’t enough for VAR to get involved.
15 min De Bruyne stabs an awesome pass, like the sudden thrust of a dagger, to take three Villa players out of the game and find Mahrez in the area. He tries to come back inside Hause and is dispossessed. The pass, though; the pass.
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13 min Villa will be pretty happy with how the game has started. Although City have had most of the ball, Orjan Nyland has had the square root of sod all to do.
12 min Joao Cancelo’s dangerous low cross towards Jesus is superbly defended by Konsa, sliding towards his own goal.
8 min Mendy fizzes a square pass to his fellow full back, Joao Cancelo. He gets the ball out of his feet and then smashes it well wide from 25 yards.
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6 min It’s been a scruffy start to the game, with City yet to get into their passing rhythm.
3 min City are playing a 4-3-3, with Jesus as the left-sided attacker. Villa have started with Anwar El Ghazi and Jack Grealish as an unlikely front pair.
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39 seconds El Ghazi, near the penalty spot, heads well wide from Elmohamady’s cross.
1 min Peep peep! City kick off from right to left. They are in their black away strip; Villa are wearing claret and blue.
The players emerge from the tunnel on a crisp afternoon in Aston. This looks like a nigh-on impossible ask for Villa, who are without so many important players.
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“Is Pep trying to sabotage Fantasy Football teams?” says Chris Tavernos. “No Sterling (my captain) again?”
Some people say there was a world before Fantasy Football banter, but I’ll be damned if I can remember it. And I knew I should have bought Mahrez this week.
Watford have thumped Bournemouth 3-0 in the early game. It’s their fourth win in six league games under Nigel Pearson, and they are already out of the relegation zone. Scenes, and then some.
Pre-match reading
Team news
Pep Guardiola has rested a few players, including Kyle Walker, Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva. I think City will play 4-3-3 with Gabriel Jesus wide left, though most team news providers have them in a 3-4-2-1.
Villa’s formation looks like 3-5-1-1.
Aston Villa (3-5-2) Nyland; Ngoyo, Mings, Hause; El Mohamady, Drinkwater, Douglas Luiz, Hourihane, Taylor; Grealish; El Ghazi.
Substitutes: Kalinic, Chester, Guilbert, Lansbury, Nakamba, Trezeguet, Vassilev.
Manchester City (4-3-3) Ederson; Joao Cancelo, Stones, Fernandinho, Mendy; De Bruyne, Rodri, D Silva; Mahrez, Aguero, Jesus.
Substitutes: Bravo, Walker, Otamendi, Gundogan, B Silva, Sterling, Foden.
Referee Jon Moss.
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Preamble
Now, here’s a first: it’s mid-January, and Pep Guardiola is out of the title race. That doesn’t really compute, given the absurd excellence of his Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City teams, and it will be interesting to see how he responds. Most managers would prioritise the three available cup competitions, especially the Champions League, but Pep the perfectionist prefers to win every game regardless of context. I bet he’s fun at Tiddlywinks parties.
On the face of it this means a lot more to Aston Villa, who will start the match in the relegation zone if Watford finish the job at Bournemouth. Villa have played pretty well against the big teams - nobody has come closer to beating Liverpool in the league - but don’t have many points to show for it. Yet.
Kick off is at 4.30pm.
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