Leon Bailey’s 1-0 victory over the struggling champions at Villa Park dealt a severe blow to Manchester City’s hopes of winning the Premier League.
Unai Emery’s team surged above a struggling City into third place on Wednesday night thanks to a deflected goal from Bailey in the second half.
With four straight league games without a victory, Pep Guardiola’s fourth-place team is now six points behind leaders Arsenal.
The treble winners were in a dire situation to stay in touch with the Gunners after drawing with Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham. They needed to defeat Villa.
Rather, they gave their poorest performance of the disastrous run and could have lost by multiple goals.
Long stretches of the city appeared exhausted, but there doesn’t seem to be much relief in sight because there is still a trip to Saudi Arabia for the FIFA Club World Cup coming up before the busy Christmas schedule.
In response to inquiries this week regarding City’s misstep, Guardiola declared emphatically that his team will unquestionably win the Premier League.
The manager of City won’t have to worry just yet; in the final weeks of the previous season’s championship race, they overcame Arsenal by eliminating an eight-point deficit.
However, this was a significant blow to their chances of winning the Premier League for an unprecedented fourth time in a row.
Guardiola stated, “Aston Villa were better. They played a fantastic game, we struggled to make our process and be more aggressive,” .
“The fact we didn’t win the last few games, that’s the quality of the Premier League. We know what’s our level. We’re struggling a bit. I’m here to help them.”
Villa’s 14th straight league home win under Emery’s leadership since taking over for the fired Steven Gerrard last season was further proof of his extraordinary work.
Emery’s team appears to be a real contender for the top four, and Arsenal’s visit on Saturday provides their manager—who was fired by the Gunners in 2019—with an opportunity to make a statement to his former team, who are only four points ahead of them.
Following his first victory over Guardiola on his fourteenth try, Emery said. “We did a fantastic match. When you are playing Manchester City you have to get your moments and try to control the game. We created chances but it was very tough,”
Arsenal is being closed in by Liverpool
In other news, Liverpool defeated Sheffield United 2-0 with ease. Chris Wilder was back in the technical area for his old team after Paul Heckingbottom was fired.
Juergen Klopp’s team only needed a late goal from Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk’s first-half volley to cut the deficit to two points versus leaders Arsenal.
With 15 games played, Arsenal has 36 points, followed by Liverpool on 34, Villa on 32, and City in fourth place with 30 points. On Tuesday, Arsenal pulled off a thrilling 4-3 victory at Luton Town.
Scott McTominay’s double gave Manchester United a 2-1 victory over Chelsea at Old Trafford as they recovered from their weekend loss to Newcastle United.
With 27 points, United is three points behind City in sixth place on the standings, while Chelsea is tenth with 19 points.
With his team losing 5-0 at Fulham and Bournemouth winning 2-0 at sliding Crystal Palace to move further clear of the relegation zone, manager Steve Cooper of Nottingham Forest is under increasing pressure.
Brighton & Hove Albion, in eighth place, defeated Brentford 2-1.