Manchester City 3-0 Aston Villa I’ll leave you with Jamie Jackson’s report from the Etihad. Bye!
“The continuing refereeing bias against City,” writes J Hopkin, “may soon become a legal matter.”
I’d like to publish the rest of the email, because it’s a cracking read. But if I do it may become a legal matter for me, and I’m skint.
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The Premier League say ‘the goalscorer is under review’. My instinct is that it touched Silva’s studs, though it’s very hard to be sure. I suspect the goal will be given to De Bruyne to save face.
It’s so, so boring.
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I suspect that goal will be awarded to David Silva, even though a Silva goal would probably have been disallowed for offside. VAR: Clearing Things Up Since 2017.
Kevin De Bruyne speaks “David said he touched it (for the goal). I have no idea. We had some difficulties in the first half today – maybe lack of intensity, the rhythm was not there. The second half was a much better performance after Raz’s goal. In the end we deserved to win. We’re just doing our job – let’s keep it going.”
Full time: Manchester City 3-0 Aston Villa
That was a funny old game, though nobody seems to be laughing. After a frustrating first half, Manchester City flexed their muscles in the second half and deserved their win against a game Aston Villa. VAR played its part again, but I’ve lost the will on that.
90+4 min: Now McGinn hits the post! Ederson charged from his lunch to make a good save from Davis before McGinn’s follow-up whistled through him and onto the inside of the post.
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90+2 min Jesus floats a chip onto the crossbar after a mix-up between Heaton and Mings. It bounced back straight into the hands of Heaton. “Luck of the devil” and all that.
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90+1 min Three minutes of added time.
90 min Foden, who had a shot beaten away by Heaton just before the red card, wins a corner after an elegant run down the inside-left channel.
88 min Stones is flattened by a fierce cross from Davis, which hits him just below the neck. He looks pretty groggy.
Fernandinho sent off
87 min Manchester City’s tactical fouls are starting to catch up with them. Fernandinho is sent off for a second yellow card, having been adjudged to have pulled back Davis. I’m not sure it was a foul, in truth, but City get away with so many sly fouls that they can’t really complain.
85 min “Surely Sterling was offside both for the De Bruyne cross and the flick from Silva?” says Francis Lee. “He was right in front of Heaton and obviously interfering with play even if he didn’t touch the ball? Or have the rules changed since I left England 30 years ago?”
I think Sterling was onside for the original cross and then offside if it got a touch off David Silva. Hopefully the Premier League will award the goal to Silva after the game, and the entire VAR technology will explode on the grounds that Sterling was offside and a Silva goal does not compute. Then we can return to football being a bit of fun rather than a particularly po-faced episode of Perry Mason.
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84 min Anwar El-Ghazi replaces the limping Jack Grealish for Villa.
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81 min Gundogan is booked for a tactical foul on Trezeguet.
80 min Grealish, who is on a yellow card, overruns the ball and fouls Joao Cancelo. Some referees would have said ‘off you pop’ for that; Graham Scott is not one of them. He’s had a very good game.
77 min If Silva got a touch, Sterling was arguably interfering with play when the goal was scored. And I’m not entirely convinced that the ball didn’t brush Sterling’s shorts as well. Does it count as a touch if it hits only the fabric of your shots? I haven’t a clue any more. I do know that the last question was never asked of Gary Lineker.
76 min The reliably brilliant Kevin De Bruyne - who has been given the second goal - is replaced by Phil Foden, and Sergio Aguero comes on for the inspirational Raheem Sterling.
75 min Villa shouldn’t be too disheartened by this, even if it ends 4- or 5-0. They have played very well for large parts of the game.
74 min “As a (former) librarian I fully support your coinage,” says David C Hunter. “Nothing we’d like better than 50,000 attendees who are quiet, studious, and enjoying themselves, though we do prefer to ‘do it’ indoors.”
73 min A change apiece. Angelino replaces Mendy for City, Keinan Davies replaces Wesley for Villa.
It came from a right-wing corner, taken by De Bruyne. Fernandinho touched the ball around the defence at the near post and leathered it across the face of goal. Bernardo Silva couldn’t guide it into an open net, such was the pace on the ball. But Villa could only partially clear it to Gundogan, who waited for the ball to bounce up and lashed a vertical scissor-kick that went through a posse of bodies and into the net. That was a fine bit of improvisation.
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GOAL! Manchester City 3-0 Aston Villa (Gundogan 70)
It’s turning into a rout!
GOAL GIVEN! I’ll be honest: I don’t know who scored or whether it was the correct decision to award a goal. I think the answers are ‘David Silva’ and ‘yes’. But apparently the goal has been given to De Bruyne.
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It came from a wicked inswinging cross from De Bruyne, which may have got a touch from Silva on its way into the net. I don’t think Sterling touched it.
VAR check There’s a check for offside against Sterling. If he touched the ball he’s offside, and it may have brushed his shorts as he tried to get out of the way. Who knows.
GOAL! Manchester City 2-0 Aston Villa (D Silva or De Bruyne 65)
That should be the match for City.
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62 min Villa are still having plenty of the game. Douglas Luiz’s snappy header, from Guilbert’s cross, is straight at Ederson.
61 min “Librarial is a real word if you say it is, Rob,” says Alexander Sharkey. “Just depends whether the rest of us adopt your neologism. I think it’s a winner. Same import but easier to say than Emiratial.”
60 min De Bruyne sweeps a left-footed shot well wide from the edge of the area.
58 min McGinn’s high free-kick from the left is fumbled by Ederson, but the ball lands safely for City. In Ederson’s defence, he was baulked by a couple of his own team-mates.
57 min Fernandinho is booked for a foul on Grealish.
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55 min: Mings makes a spectacular goalline clearance! Engels’ abysmal ball out of defence went straight to Sterling, who squared it to find Jesus in space in the area. His low shot went through Heaton and bounced up awkwardly on the goalline, where the backpedalling Mings improvised brilliantly to knee it over the bar.
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54 min “As a Liverpool fan I’d like the club sign one creative and established player and it seems that there is a nice pool of upcoming English midfielders,” says Michal. “If you were the Reds’ director of football, who would target out of Grealish, Sancho and Maddison?”
For Liverpool, Maddison I reckon.
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53 min A fine run from Mendy, who nutmegs McGinn on the left of the area before hitting a shot that spins just wide off Engels.
50 min De Bruyne’s wicked free-kick from the right flashes right across the face of goal.
49 min “You just said that 12 teams could conceivably go down,” says Daniel Wighton. “Are you including Man Utd in that gaggle?”
Not yet.
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47 min Jesus beat Mings in the air to create the goal, which is less than idea from Villa’s perspective. From City’s point of view, it’s yet another goal for the inevitable Raheem Sterling.
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It was Villa’s kick off as well. The goal came from Ederson’s long ball, which was headed on by Jesus towards Sterling. The last man Engels was wrongfooted by the angle of the header, which allow Sterling to scurry into the area and slide the ball under Heaton.
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GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Aston Villa (Sterling 46)
We won’t be seeing Sergio Aguero yet. Raheem Sterling has scored after 20 seconds of the second half!
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46 min Peep peep! Aston Villa get the second half under way. No substitutions, although it won’t be long before we see Sergio Aguero if it stays 0-0.
“Hi Rob,” says James Broughton. “On that Stones blocked shot, that then touched both hands, but was not given by VAR. The question I have is, how does that fit with the now consistent approach being taken of ‘all handballs are fouls’? Think back to the City v Spurs game earlier this season and Jesus’ goal was disallowed because VAR concluded the ball had trimmed a City player’s nails before reaching Jesus. It seemed we were getting to a point of any time the ball touched a hand it was a foul. It touched both of Stones’ hands. In short, please clarify.”
I had a look at the new law at half-time and I was wrong - VAR man was correct not to give a penalty. Essentially (though there is a degree of ambiguity), it’s not a penalty if the ball deflects off another part of your body onto the arm.
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Half-time reading
Half time: Manchester City 0-0 Aston Villa
Peep peep! A frustrating half for City, who with the exception of Raheem Sterling have been nowhere near their best. Half their players are moaning at the referee, though I’m not sure why. It would be worse for City but for Ederson’s excellent save from John McGinn. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
45 min Douglas Luiz crosses from the left towards Trezeguet, who loses the sleeping Stones but makes no contact with an attempted stooping header.
43 min David Silva misses City’s best chance of the game. It was made by the superb Sterling, who ran infield, onto Gundogan’s return pass, and eased the ball back towards Silva. He dragged a low, first-time shot just wide of the far post.
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43 min Sergio Aguero is having a great game.
42 min Grealish gets away with a foul on David Silva, having lost the ball in a dangerous area. Had the foul been given, that would almost certainly have been a second yellow card. Then again, the first one was harsh. See, it does all even itself out in the end, every now and then.
40 min “Villa fan here,” says David Bertram. “Any chance this side stays up? I feel there’s so much to like about them but the 38-game season will be too short.”
Too short?! I think they’ll stay up reasonably comfortably. It’s not easy to call this year, as there are maybe 12 teams that could conceivably go down, but Villa have a lot going for them – a high-class coaching team, solid defence, arguably England’s best keeper, enough quality in midfield and a home support than will win a few extra points.
38 min Sterling misses a decent chance, flicking a header wide from Gundogan’s stabbed, outside-of-the foot cross. The ball was slightly behind him, which made it a tougher chance than it first looked.
36 min Grealish is booked for fouling Sterling, though it looked like Sterling just slipped.
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35 min Villa have three shots blocked in the same attack. The second of those, from Trezeguet, hit Stones’ arm as he fell after originally making a superb block. VAR says ... no penalty. I thought that might be given.
34 min Ederson’s superb long pass puts Sterling through on goal, only for Heaton to charge from the area and calmly chest the ball away. Modern goalkeeping, right there
34 min Yes, I know librarial isn’t actually a word.
33 min The atmosphere at the Etihad is somewhat librarial. Villa will be thrilled with how things are going.
32 min “As a Baggies fan,” says Alan Davis, “I’m delighted to see that Villa’s change shirts appear to be inscribed WBA.”
It’s a reach – but I’m going to allow it! Oneupmanship given!
30 min David Silva plays the ball straight out of play. City are not, in the parlance of our time, at it.
29 min The Villa fans have a special chant for the day: “Champions of Europe, you’ll never sing that.”
28 min City are not at their slick attacking best. Sterling has looked lively; that’s about it so far. There’s still plenty of time for them to win 5-0, but at the moment it’s a much more even game than most expected.
27 min “You have to think,” says Phil Grey, “that Leicester would be three up by now, whichever team they were playing, or possibly even if they were playing Man City and Villa at the same time.”
Have I missed something? I watched Monty Don last night.
25 min Stones’ looping header from a corner is palmed over by Heaton. It was probably going onto the roof of the net anyway but he decided to play safe rather than risking a Pickford.
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24 min Good game, this. Villa’s posiutive attitude has been really impressive.
23 min: Now Villa are appealing for a penalty! Ederson made a fine diving save from McGinn’s curler, following an abysmal pass from Stones, and then Douglas Luiz went over under challenge from Cancelo as he tried to get to the rebound. I don’t think it was a foul. The ball also hit Douglas Luiz’s hand, so lord knows what it all means. It was a superb save from Ederson in the first place. VAR says... no penalty.
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21 min Heaton makes his first save, doing well to hold Joao Cancelo’s long-range shot. The save itself was comfortable; the catch, in these wet conditions, was more impressive.
20 min: NO PENALTY I’m not certain Engels’ arm was in an entirely natural position, but VAR has cleared it. It was never a penalty in old money, as he was just trying to block the shot.
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19 min: VAR check City appeal for a penalty when Sterling’s shot hits a Villa defender and spins wide. It did hit Engels on the arm, and this might be given under the absurd new rules.
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18 min “That Villa kit is awful,” says Kevin Ryan. “It looks like they just grabbed some green training tops and put ‘em over the black tops. Question: who has the worst change kit in the Premier League?”
Sorry, I assumed that was a rhetorical question.
16 min Another good Villa break yields a corner when McGinn’s cross takes a deflection and loops onto the roof of the net. City look more vulnerable to the counter-attack than usual.
15 min Although City have dominated the first 15 minutes, Villa haven’t parked the bus. They are getting forward in numbers when possible, and there’s a smooth confidence to their passing.
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13 min A promising counter-attack from Villa ends when Trezeguet is dispossessed by Gundogan on the edge of the area. City counter-counter-attack, and Sterling’s low shot from the edge of the area is blocked by Mings. He didn’t really get hold of it.
10 min Lovely play from Sterling, who twists Guilbert inside out on the left of the area before crossing towards Bernardo Silva at the far post. Targett nips in to clear.
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9 min “Hi again!” says Ben Woods. “When Gerrard and Lampard were 19 they played 29 and 31 Premier League matches for Liverpool and West Ham respectively. Doesn’t Foden need to play similar numbers if he is to reach their levels?”
Not necessarily. Paul Scholes didn’t become a regular in the Manchester United midfield until just before his 23rd birthday. Every case is different. But I expected Foden to be starting at least 1 in 4 league games by now.
6 min City are into their work now. After a lovely through pass from Gundogan, Sterling’s low cross towards Jesus is put behind by the sliding Guilbert.
5 min Jesus misses a good chance, shooting just wide on the turn after a ricochet in the box.
4 min It’s been a confident start from Villa, who win the first corner of the match - and make a WTFHWT mess of it. Mendy then charges down the left to win City’s first corner.
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1 min Peep peep! City, in blue, kick off from left right.
The players have emerged from the tunnel, into the rain. Villa are sporting their new green and black third kit.
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“If Phil Foden isn’t going go start this match,” says Ben Woods, “when will he be starting?”
Last Tuesday? I agree with you, though - I am very surprised how few league games he has started, and he must be starting to wonder whether he needs to do the Sancho. You’d expect him to replace David Silva over the next two years, but he can’t be entirely thrilled with three Premier League starts in two-and-a-bit years.
If you’re into the whole rugby thing, you may well want to read about an entirely immense performance from England, who hammered New Zealand 19-7 in Yokohama to reach the World Cup final. Believe it or not, the scoreline flattered the All Blacks. England were mind-blowingly good.
It’s a vile day in Manchester, with the rain sheeting down. I can’t decide whether a drenched pitch makes life easier or more difficult for Villa.
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Pre-match reading
Team news
Manchester City (4-3-3) Ederson; Cancelo, Stones, Fernandinho, Mendy; De Bruyne, Gundogan, D Silva; B Silva, Gabriel Jesus, Sterling.
Substitutes: Bravo, Walker, Aguero, Angelino, Mahrez, Otamendi, Foden.
Aston Villa (4-1-4-1) Heaton; Guilbert, Engels, Mings, Targett; Nakamba; Trezeguet, Douglas Luis, McGinn, Grealish; Wesley.
Substitutes: Steer, Taylor, Lansbury, Ngoyo, Hourihane, El Ghazi, Davis.
Referee Graham Scott.
Preamble
Hello. Manchester City won their last home game 5-1; Aston Villa won their last away game by the same scoreline. Something has to give today. And, while the likelihood is that Villa’s defensive dignity will be the first thing to go, they will take plenty of encouragement from Wolves’ smash-and-grab victory at the Etihad earlier this month.
Villa sit in 12th after a quietly impressive start to their Premier League return. City have had a slightly odd couple of months. They equalled their worst start to a season since the Abu Dhabi takeover, whith two shocking defeats to Norwich and Wolves, yet they could end the weekend only three points behind Liverpool.
They have a few injuries in defence, with Rodri and Oleksandr Zinchenko joining Aymeric Laporte in the rehabilitation wing, so Villa might fancy their chances going forward. The difficult part is at the other end.
Kick off is at 12.30pm BST.
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