Man City vs Aston Villa LIVE: Matheus Nunes nets late winner as hosts move into top four
Man City 2-1 Aston Villa: Pep Guardiola’s men close in on a Champions League place with big win over rivals Villa
Manchester City moved up to third in the Premier League and took a huge step to securing Champions League football after beating Aston Villa 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium.
Unai Emery’s Villa started proceedings in rapid fashion with Marcus Rashford, starting ahead of Marco Asensio and Ollie Watkins, striking the post just 17 seconds into the match. The visitors had another strong chance batted away and City managed to strike first.
Omar Marmoush drove into the box from the left wing and pulled a pass back to Bernardo Silva who rocketed in the opener to get the Etihad celebrating. Their joy didn’t last long as Jacob Ramsey was brought down in the City box resulting in a penalty that Rashford converted to bring the game level at half-time.
City turned up the tempo in the second hlaf but they needed stoppage time to force a winner as Matheus Nunes arrived at the back post to turn Jeremy Doku’s cross into the back of the net and secure all three points.
Follow all the latest build-up, team news and updates from the Etihad below:
Full-time! Man City 2-1 Aston Villa
Manchester City get the job done.
Pep Guardiola went crazy in celebration on the sidelines as his team clinched the three points.
It could be a huge moment in the race for the top four/five.
Villa’s hopes have been dented, City are almost secure.
GOAL! Man City 2-1 Aston Villa (Matheus Nunes, 90+4')
Winner!
That is huge. It’s so late in the game and Manchester City get themselves over the line. Jeremy Doku receives the ball and drives past Axel Disasi.
He pokes the ball across the sxi-yard box towards the far post where Matheus Nunes arrives and drills it home.
City are going to claim the three points.
Man City 1-1 Aston Villa
90+3 mins: City win a late corner as John McGinn blocks a cross into the box.
De Bruyne goes over to take it. He swings the ball into the penalty area with Ruben Dias the target.
He finds his teammate but Dias’ header loops softly into the hands of Martinez.
Man City 1-1 Aston Villa
90 mins: Five minutes of added time to play.
Will we see a winning goal?
Man City 1-1 Aston Villa
86 mins: Villa win their first corner of the second half and Marco Asensio whips it into the box.
Josko Gvardiol leaps highest and nods it away but the ball drops to Villa substitute Donyell Malen.
He shoots from range but Ortega has it covered.
Man City 1-1 Aston Villa
83 mins: Better from Villa.
They’ve been very strong at repelling City in this half and are now having more opportunities to get forward.
Whether that’ll be enough to get them a winner is unknown.
Man City 1-1 Aston Villa
80 mins: Disallowed goal!
De Bruyne releases Doku on the counter attack as City fly up the pitch. Doku runs into trouble and has to sends the ball back to De Bruyne.
He gives it to Gundogan who feeds Marmoush with a short pass into the box.
Marmoush collects the ball as the hands of the Villa defenders go up in unison. He slots it past Martinez and the offside flag is raised.
Man City 1-1 Aston Villa
78 mins: Ollie Watkins and Marco Asensio are introduced in the hopes of getting Villa the winning goal.
The visitors are seeing a bit more of the ball as the second half heads towards its conclusion.
'City are pushing for a winner'
“City are pushing for a winner now.
“Guardiola had suggested Jeremy Doku would be involved more in the run-in, then left him out today, which was almost rewarded when James McAtee came close to a special goal.
“But now the Belgian is on, perhaps charged with tormenting Axel Disasi.”
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