Bailey sends rip-roaring Villa up to third as City slip again

For a while now Aston Villa have openly and confidently declared qualifying for the Champions League is their chief objective this season and, on this evidence, after defeating and disposing of Manchester City, they will be in the conversation for the long haul. Leon Bailey blasted Villa in front on 74 minutes and City could not argue it had not been coming on a chastening evening to forget for Pep Guardiola, now an unprecedented winless in four Premier League matches.

- Ben Fisher 

Aston Villa 1
Bailey 74

Manchester City 0

Villa were fortuitous Bailey's strike looped in via Rúben Dias but by that point they had more than created their own luck with a rip-roaring performance. By the end, City were on the ropes, Ederson reeling as his defence crumbled in front of him. Douglas Luiz, the one-time City midfielder, cracked a shot against a post as Villa hunted for a second.

Often the pre-match pyrotechnics feel somewhat overkill-sometimes it can be hard to escape the notion that the whole occasion about to unravel before our eyes has been frankly overhyped - but this clash between sides third and fourth in the table, both gunning for Champions League places, lived up to its billing as an absorbing contest. These days Villa represent formidable opposition full stop, but they are a particular force here, having won their previous 13 home league matches. The place was rocking from the moment the players emerged from the tunnel.