Micah Richards and Roy Keane agree on what Man City could have done better in Aston Villa win

Micah Richards and Roy Keane both felt Manchester City weren’t at their best as they boosted their Premier League title hopes with a home win against Aston Villa.

Pep Guardiola’s men were finally able to focus on on-field matters after a week dominated by talk of the multiple charges brought against City by the Premier League for allegedly breaking over 100 financial regulations. The former Barcelona manager watched on as his side gave the perfect riposte to their doubters by racing into an early lead with a neat finish from the impressive Rodri.

For all of their dominance, it took City until six minutes before half-time to double their lead as Ilkay Gundogan coverted after some fine forward play from the hardworking Erling Haaland. The advantage was extended to three just before half-time with a penalty from Riyad Mahrez after former Villa man Jack Grealish had been brought down in the area.

Guardiola made two changes at half-time as Haaland and Ruben Dias were replaced by Julian Alvarez and Manuel Akanji and that seemed to disrupt their flow as Villa showed a slight improvement after the restart. The visitors would grab the only goal of the second-half as Ollie Watkins reduced the arrears.

Unai Emery’s side had chances to really set the home nerves on edge but City held firm to ensure they will top the Premier League table if they can claim another home win against leaders Arsenal on Wednesday night. Reflecting on the performance, former City star Richards felt they weren’t at their best in a meeting of two of his old clubs.

He told Sky Sports: “It was a big game today with the off-field things that have been happening but it was a professional performance in terms of just getting the job done.

“They weren’t at the best if we are being totally honest, probably about 70 or 80 percent - but the game was done in the first-half. It was about getting some minutes into the players that have not be playing and they got the win in the end, that was the most important thing.

Former Manchester United captain Keane added: “I think mentally they’ve switched off. The manager made changes at half-time for the second-half and at 3-0 the game is over. When you switch off it’s hard to switch back on and you lose that little bit of momentum. The first-half was job done, and obviously they’ve got big games coming, they switched off, they gave Villa a little bit of encouragement.

“But from Villa’s point of view, it’s very easy to play when you’re three down. It’s too little, too late, but it was job done and very, very professional. The second-half was pretty boring but I thought City were excellent in the first-half.”