City arrived in Birmingham unbeaten and carrying seven successive league victories, which had given them a flawless start to the Premier League season and put them one win away from a club record eighth consecutive league triumph.
Aston Villa ended that run on Saturday afternoon with a 2-1 victory, as Nicolas Jackson scored twice, once in the sixth minute and again on the hour, to hand Enzo Maresca’s side their first league defeat of the campaign despite a second-half performance in which the visitors created chance after chance.
Villa struck first when Marc Guéhi took a heavy touch while City tried to build from the back, which allowed John McGinn to slip Jackson through, and the Senegalese striker cut inside Elliot Anderson before firing past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The early goal jolted City into action, and the visitors took control of the game, with Iliman Ndiaye forcing Zion Suzuki into a diving save on 14 minutes before the Villa goalkeeper smothered a Rayan Cherki effort following some excellent work down the left from Jérémy Doku.
Ndiaye then watched a shot strike the post, and Rúben Dias made a crucial tackle on 39 minutes to stop Alysson from doubling Villa’s lead on the break.
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Maresca changed his side at half-time, replacing the booked pair of Guéhi and Cherki with Rico Lewis and Phil Foden, and the switch worked immediately.
Seven minutes after the restart, Ndiaye curled in a precise cross from a well-worked free-kick and Erling Haaland headed home his ninth league goal of the season to level the score.
Suzuki kept City at bay with another fine stop to deny Joško Gvardiol after Doku’s pass, but Villa regained the lead on the hour when substitute Ibrahim Mbaye raced down the right and pulled the ball back for Jackson, whose first-time shot from 15 yards beat Donnarumma despite the goalkeeper’s dive.
City kept pressing, and Suzuki came out bravely on 69 minutes to block Gvardiol’s follow-up after a rebound off Buendia, while Haaland and Doku both came close to an equaliser, but the visitors never found the goal that would have saved a point.
The result extended a painful pattern for City, who have now lost four successive league matches at Villa Park.
What Maresca and Dias said: Maresca praised his team’s overall display and the number of chances they created, though he admitted they should have defended the transition for Villa’s second goal better, and he insisted that City did not deserve to lose even though the result went against them.
Dias described the afternoon as frustrating, explained that City took 10 to 15 minutes to adapt to Villa’s changed set-up, and acknowledged that his side conceded twice on the counter-attack against a very efficient opponent.
What it means:Despite the defeat, City stay top of the Premier League, three points clear of second-placed Arsenal, who have a game in hand and host Everton later on Saturday.
What’s next:City turn their attention to the Carabao Cup, where they host Brighton and Hove Albion in a fourth-round tie at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, 28 October, with kick-off at 19:30 UK time.
