Aston Villa handed struggling Manchester City a 2-1 defeat on Saturday, adding to the mounting pressure on manager Pep Guardiola, who has now endured nine losses in his last 12 matches.
Jhon Duran opened the scoring for Villa with a clinical finish after a well-executed team move, giving the home side an early lead.
Morgan Rogers extended Villa’s advantage in the 65th minute, putting the visitors on the back foot.
Phil Foden pulled one back for City in stoppage time, netting his first Premier League goal of the season, but it came too late to salvage a result.
Guardiola, in the midst of the worst run of his illustrious career, had expressed hope on Friday that “sooner or later” things would turn around.
However, City’s once-feared dominance has now evaporated.
Manchester City after losing the match.
The victory lifted Unai Emery’s Villa team to fifth in the Premier League, one position above the faltering City side.
In an attempt to shake things up after last week’s Manchester derby defeat, Guardiola made six changes to his starting lineup, including introducing goalkeeper Stefan Ortega and reshuffling his defense with Rico Lewis, John Stones, and Manuel Akanji.
However, the defending champions started the match in disarray, nearly falling behind within the first 20 seconds.
