Man City shortens the gap with Arsenal
The 3-1 victory helped Man City run the perfect momentum for the match against Arsenal at dawn on February 16 (Hanoi time). Pep Guardiola's teachers and students are currently three points behind Arsenal and have played more than one match. If you win in the round 12 match, the defending champion will take the top of the table from the "Gunners".
Man City coach and player did not waver when entering the match against Aston Villa, even though the club was accused by the tournament organizers of breaking the financial fair play law. With a 3-2-4-1 attack, Man City flooded early and took only four minutes to get ahead. From Riyad Mahrez's corner, Rodri headed into the corner to open the scoring.
The early goal made it easy for Man City to kick. Only in the first half, the host scored 11 times, of which five times hit the goal. It was Rodri who poked a favorable slot for Ilkay Gundogan to escape in the 11th minute, before the German midfielder's effort was denied by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. Kevin De Bruyne's maneuvers then put Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland in a good position to score, but they all missed.
Aston Villa lasted until the 39th minute, then conceded the second goal. Speed helped Haaland control the ball after the visitors were confused with De Bruyne's high pass. Aston Villa's deformed defense could not prevent Haaland from stretching for Gundogan to cushion the ball into an empty net. Towards the end of the half, hopes of a point vanished for the visitors when Jacob Ramsey fouled Grealish in the penalty area. From a distance of 11 meters, Mahrez raised the score to 3-0.
The game was easy, but incomplete for City as Erling Haaland was substituted shortly after half-time with a thigh injury. The possibility of the Norwegian striker participating in the match against Arsenal on Wednesday night is still open.
Aston Villa broke the circuit of three consecutive away wins in the Premier League, but still extended the scoring circuit. Immediately after replacing three people in the second half, the visitors shortened the score thanks to striker Ollie Watkins. The pressure could be greater on Man City, if John Duran did not hit the crossbar at the end of the game. On the other side of the line, the host also failed to eat unfortunately, when Mahrez sent the ball into the sky from a distance of just over five meters.
The 3-1 victory helped Man City have 48 points after 22 matches. The top of the table Arsenal, with a 1-1 draw with Brentford in this round, has 51 points after 21 matches. In third place is Man Utd with 46 points after 23 matches. Aston Villa is still ranked 11th, with 10 points more than the group holding the red light.
