Manchester City kept pressure on their Premier League title rivals with a hard-fought 4-1 win at home to Aston Villa on Wednesday. Phil Foden’s brilliant hat-trick was the icing on the cake after Rodri had opened the scoring, with Jhon Duran on target for the visitors.
Guardiola made four changes from the side that drew 0-0 at home to Arsenal on Sunday, one of which was enforced with Rico Lewis replacing the injured Nathan Ake. Elsewhere, Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Mateo Kovacic were rested, with Jeremy Doku, Jack Grealish and Julian Alvarez starting in their place.
Villa were already without top-scorer Ollie Watkins due to a hamstring injury and then lost goalkeeper Emi Martinez through illness during the warm-up, with Robin Olsen deputising between the posts. The away side were also without Matty Cash, Boubacar Kamara and John McGinn.
City started the better of the two sides and were rewarded for their early pressure, with Rodri timing his run perfectly to get on the end of Doku’s cross before firing into the roof of the net. But the Blues were hit with a sucker-punch shortly after, Duran linking up well with Morgan Rogers before finishing well past Stefan Ortega.
City were frustrated for much of the first-half but went into the break 2-1 up thanks to Foden, whose free-kick somehow squeezed through a gap in the Villa wall and into Olsen’s bottom corner. And it was Foden who finally made it three on the hour mark, sweeping an instinctive finish into the bottom corner after some great work by Rodri.
Foden got his hat-trick in brilliant fashion with 20 minutes remaining, picking himself up from a tough challenge to rifle an effort into Olsen’s top corner. City remain in third despite the win, with Arsenal also taking three points from Luton Town, but the gap has been closed on Liverpool who face Sheffield United on Thursday. Here are your player ratings.
1. Stefan Ortega: 6
Beaten by a slick finish for Villa’s opener. Saved well from Douglas Luiz to keep it at 2-1 just before the hour, following a swift counter-attack.
2. Rico Lewis: 7
Forays into midfield were often effective. Immaculate as ever in possession, linking well with Foden and Doku. Should have made it four but hooked a volley.
3. Manuel Akanji: 6
Comfortable in defence and not involved in the concession of Villa’s opener.
4. Ruben Dias: 5
Done a little too easily by Duran’s run behind for Villa’s opener.