Key events
76 min: Double substitution for Villa Matty Cash and Philippe Coutinho, who both scored here in May, replace Jacob Ramsey, who doesn’t look right on the right, and Ashley Young.
75 min It feels like the game is starting to peter out. It’s been a good day for City, though they have lost a bit of focus in the second half. Maybe they should just put their phone down? As things stand, it’s a decent victory rather than statement win. Maybe they’re saving the statement win for the Emirates on Wednesday night.
72 min Gundogan, having started the move with a lovely angled pass to Walker, curls straight at Martinez from distance.
71 min “Thank you for introducing me to the Walkmen!” writes Eric Peterson. “I’m a bass player who still reunites with his university band from time to time, and I love songs like this where the bass plays in the upper range and tightens the space between the bass line and the rest of the band.
“It’s easy to just hang about on the lowest possible chord note and miss how moving up in your playing range and taking advantage of the space you have to move into can propel the song. There’s a time and a place for the high line in rock and roll, just like football.”
And thank you for talking in a foreign language, thereby reminding me that the only musical instrument I’ve ever played is the recorder. Gah!
69 min: City substitution Phil Foden replaces Jack Grealish, who is warmly applauded from the field. Foden gets a huge cheer when he runs on.
68 min Gundogan’s long-range shot is comfortably held by Martinez. I think City are over their four-minute blip.
66 min: Great defending from Konsa! What a move from City. De Bruyne turns Chambers brilliantly near the halfway line and gives the ball to Gundogan. He curls a beautiful first-time pass around Young to find Grealish on the left side of the area. Grealish’s first touch isn’t great but he makes up for it with a delightful chipped cross towards Alvarez at the far post. He leaps to power a close-range header that would have gone in but for Konsa’s desperate block.
66 min Here’s the goal from Ollie Watkins that has given Villa (and Arsenal) a soupcon of hope.
64 min Suddenly City look a little edgy. Watkins makes a bit of space on the left side of the area but then slips in the act of shooting.
63 min Konsa is booked for a lunging tackle on Alvarez.
It’s a good finish from Ollie Watkins, who has looked bright all afternoon. Bernardo Silva ran into trouble and was dispossessed just inside the City half by Douglas Luiz. He played a crisp early pass into Watkins, who shuffled away from a half-arsed challenge by Akanji on the edge of the area and slid the ball across Ederson.
GOAL! Man City 3-1 Aston Villa (Watkins 61)
There goes City’s clean sheet.
61 min: Triple change for Villa Jhon Duran, John McGinn and Alex Moreno replace Emi Buendia (who isn’t thrilled to be taken off), Lucas Digne and Leon Bailey.
Duran wasn’t originally on the teamsheet, then Villa realised they had named only eight of nine substitutes and asked if they could add him.
58 min Rodri has been inspirational today. He wins the ball high up the field on the right and flips a lovely cross towards Alvarez, whose acrobatic volley takes a deflection and is claimed by Martinez.
56 min Grealish beats Young with ease in the area but then overhits his chipped cross.
53 min City look hungry for more goals, Grealish in particular. His cutback finds Gundogan, who slips at an inopportune moment.
Bernardo Silva is basically playing as an orthodox left-back now, though whether Pep risks that at the Emirates remains to be seen. Bernardo Silva v Bukayo Saka on Wednesday would be, well, total BS.
52 min I cannot begin to imagine how miserable it must be for extremely good professional footballers to walk out for the second half away to Manchester City knowing the game is already over, and that the only remaining question is whether the match ends 3-0 or 12-0.
49 min Apparently Erling Haaland has a thigh injury, which is an obvious concern ahead of the Arsenal game on Wednesday. Thigh injuries, even minor ones, don’t always heal in 72 hours. At this rate City might have to play Phil Foden.
48 min Martinez makes a fine save, getting down low to his left to stop Rodri’s deflected shot from 15 yardas.
46 min City made a double change at half-time: Julian Alvarez and Manuel Akanji for Erling Haaland and Ruben Dias.
46 min Peep peep! The second half begins, and Ashley Young nobbles Jack Grealish inside 30 seconds.
“While on the topic of genius, I just want to thank you for the deployment of The Rat by The Walkmen in today’s MBM,” says Gabe S. “A banger so impeccably well-written and lethally well-performed, the fact it isn’t a House Of The Rising Sun or All Along The Watchtower-level universal rock ‘n roll standard is a bit of a shame. See you down the front for the reunion shows?”
They’re coming to South Somerset are they? (I agree with you by the way – it’s a unique, ageless song, with a paint-stripping ferocity that could make a nonagenarian feel young.)
“Amid all the brouhaha about City’s finances,” begins Simon McMahon, “I think what most people are forgetting is that, if Liverpool win tomorrow, they will move to with 16 points of City, with a game in hand. No wonder Pep is raging.”
The updated league table
Half-time reading
Half time: Man City 3-0 Aston Villa
Do you see what happens, Larry? Do you see what happens when you charge Manchester City 115 times?
That was utterly predictable, and it would have been more but for some determined defending from Villa. Rodri headed in from a corner, Erling Haaland gave Ilkay Gundogan an open goal and Riyad Mahrez scored a penalty past Emi Martinez.
GOAL! Man City 3-0 Aston Villa (Mahrez 45+1 pen)
That’s right, Mahrez. I expected Haaland to take it, but Mahrez stepped up and sent the penalty expert Martinez the wrong way.
Grealish was looking for it, but Ramsey caught his trailing leg so there’s no way this will be overturned. It’s a clear penalty.
44 min: PENALTY TO CITY! Ramsey brings down Grealish, and City are about to go 3-0 up.
44 min Here’s City’s second goal.
42 min Dias is booked for dissent.
De Bruyne clipped an early long pass towards Haaland, charging between the two Villa central defenders near the edge of the area. Chambers panicked and stooped to head the ball somewhere, anywhere, but Haaland retrieved it on the right side of the area, waited for support and rammed a devastating low cross that gave Gundogan a tap-in.
GOAL! Man City 2-0 Aston Villa (Gundogan 39)
Not for the first time against Villa this year, Ilkay Gundogan taps into an empty net at the far post.
38 min De Bruyne’s free-kick is headed wide by Rodri, under a lot pressure from Kamara.
37 min Saying which, Mahrez slips Digne, who legs him up and is booked.
36 min Villa have defended extremely well against a City side who, with the exception of the second half at home to Spurs, are playing as well as they have since the World Cup.
35 min “Since Peter Oh brought it up, I’ve wondered how much attention is paid to the Super Bowl in the UK,” says Joe Pearson. “I mean, a game that starts at 11:30 PM on a Sunday can’t attract that many viewers, right? Will you stay up to watch?”
No, but I’ve never really understood American sports, even though I love the idea of them. I know plenty of people who stay up for it every year, or at least did before we all hit old age. Like barely repressed self-loathing, it’s always been a pretty big thing over here.
33 min Walker plays a poor ball straight to Bailey, 30 yards from goal. He is cleaned out emphatically by Dias, an old-school man-and-ball challenge. The referee allows play to continue, and replays show that, while it was a very strong challenge, it wasn’t a dangerous one.
32 min “Pep is not a genius,” says Jeff Sax. “A genius does not make continual changes to a winning side… And when last did he win the Champions League?”
Jeff, I love you, but trust me: he’s a complete and utter and occasionally maddening genius. Sir Alex Ferguson went about four years without naming an unchanged side, and he was a genius as well.
30 min Rodri, who has been outstanding, releases De Bruyne on the right with a lovely first-time pass. De Bruyne gets to the byline and tries to cut the ball back to Haaland. Konsa does the necessary in the six-yard box.
De Bruyne also looks really sharp today. It’s the FA Charge Bounce!
29 min: Good save from Martinez! De Bruyne marches imperiously across the field from the right, beating Kamara with ease before finding Grealish on the left side of the box. He whips a curling shot across goal that is fingertipped round the post by the flying Martinez. That’s a fine save actually. Grealish, often relatively shot-shy, looks desperate to score today.
28 min “Do you think,” says Richard Hirst, “Pep is playing Rage Against The Machine in the dressing room?”
I assumed this was on loop, or maybe he’s saving it for the next time Daniel Levy calls to discuss European Super League.
27 min De Bruyne’s deep free-kick is headed into a dangerous area by the backpedalling Ramsey. Bernardo Silva’s snapshot is blocked, and there’s another VAR check for handball. No dice.
25 min Villa have done pretty well to stay in the game, because when Rodri scored so early I assumed we’d be in double figures by now.
24 min “Why did Guardiola barely play Dias, his best central defender, and get rid of his best wing-back?” wonders Andrew Hurley. “Freud, if still alive, wd have a field day with his narcissism / need for it always to be about needing to be recognized for how clever he is. As he’s long gone, what is your diagnosis Dr Smyth?”
That’s the thing about geniuses – we all go a little mad sometimes. Har, har, har. In his defence, Dias hasn’t been fully fit since the World Cup.
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