Cash flushes one to leave Guardiola and City counting the cost
THE WINNER: Aston Villa's Matty Cash (centre) scores their side's first goal of the game as Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma looks on during the Premier League match at Villa Park, Birmingham. Pic: Nick Potts/PA Wire
Matty Cash delivered a stunning finish with his weaker left foot to continue Aston Villa’s march up the Premier League table – and further limit Manchester City’s room for error if they are to wrest back the title.
Unai Emery’s team may have started the season sluggishly, with three points from their opening five games bringing tetchiness and concern, but this fourth league win on the trot has boosted them into seventh place. They fully deserved this win, too.
Pep Guardiola’s team, on the other hand, lacked quality and panache at a ground where they have now lost three in a row. A first defeat in 10 is not a decisive blow so early in the campaign but with Arsenal continuing their march, Pep Guardiola’s team cannot perform so tepidly again. They now sit six points off the summit occupied by the Gunners, who are showing few signs of weakness.
Erling Haaland briefly thought he had equalised in the 89th minute when sliding in from close range only for the offside flag to go up as he collided uncomfortably with the post. He was quiet throughout, underlining City’s over-reliance on the big Norwegian to pull them out of trouble. At 65 minutes it was notable that he had more touches in his own box than Villa’s penalty area.
Yet Emery’s men deserve plenty of credit for how they negated his impact while playing to their strengths and if it was not for a couple of good saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma, the visiting goalkeeper, their winning deficit should have been greater.
The Italian stopper denied Ollie Watkins, John McGinn and twice got in the way of Jadon Sancho, who came off the bench for the injured Emi Buendia in the first half and looked disgusted when he was removed with little more than 15 minutes to go.
Donnarumma, however, was powerless to stop Cash’s decisive effort after 18 minutes.
It emanated from a short corner taken to Buendia, who played a firm pass across the edge of the box. Cash was left entirely unmarked at the back of the area and by the time he ran towards the D, City were already too slow to react.
The Polish Cafu controlled the ball with his right, shifting it on to his left, which let loose a killer swerving effort that nestled into the bottom right corner.
City never enjoyed a sustained period of domination and looked culpable when being counterattacked against, although they were justifiably annoyed not to have earned a penalty nearing the interval when Josko Gvardiol was shoved by Morgan Rogers.
Referee Michael Oliver ignored the claims and there was no VAR check, even though replays showed a clear push.
On the balance of 90 minutes, however, no one could argue that Villa were not the better side.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
