Man City 3-0 Aston Villa
by James Nalton
at Eastlands 

MANCHESTER CITY kept the pressure on Liverpool at the top of the table following a convincing second-half display against Aston Villa on Saturday.

Goals from Raheem Sterling, David Silva and Ilkay Gundogan sealed the win but it wasn’t all plain sailing for the home side.

Pep Guardiola commented after the match that if his team were to play as they did in the first half for the rest of the season, they might be closer to a relegation battle than the top of the table. It took less than a minute for City to take the lead in the second half, though. 

Guardiola’s sides are known for their possession play, but they do have other ways of getting through an opposition defence.

One of them is to use the kicking power of goalkeeper Ederson, whose clearances can go the length of the pitch. One such hoof was knocked down by Gabriel Jesus into the path of Sterling who controlled and finished well.

“We see Manchester City for their intricate passing and movement and sit back and applaud but this one was a 70-yard punt from the goalkeeper, and defensively we didn’t deal with it,” said Aston Villa manager Dean Smith.

“If you give top players like Sterling opportunities like that, then you’ll get punished.”

Pep Guardiola commented on Jesus’s part in the goal.

“Gabriel is that option as Raheem and Bernardo [Silva] are not basketball players,” he said. 

“The first touch from Raheem was exceptional, as was the finish.”

Guardiola quipped that he’s asked about Sterling as much as he’s asked about VAR in his post-match press conferences, but he always manages to find praise for the winger, even if not for the video technology.

He was pleased the Englishman didn’t let recent praise go to his head.

“What I liked the most is after scoring three goals against Atalanta, everybody talks in the media how good you are,” said the Catalan.

“Usually in the next game you play like ‘how good am I?’ But he was the complete opposite, he kept his level. I am so proud of Raheem.”

VAR was called into action when Kevin De Bruyne’s shot was deflected by David Silva before finding the back of the net. 

Sterling was in an offside position as Silva intervened, but the video referee gave the goal to De Bruyne, meaning they didn’t have to disallow the goal. It was later awarded to Silva.

Gundogan’s impressive strike rounded off the important win, and City now prepare for two games against Southampton, the first of them in the League Cup tomorrow.