For a while now Aston Villa have openly and confidently declared qualifying for the Champions League is their primary objective this season and, on this evidence, after defeating and disposing of Manchester City, they will be in the conversation for the long haul. Leon Bailey blasted Villa in front on 74 minutes and City could not argue it had not been coming on a chastening evening to forget for Pep Guardiola, whose side are now an unprecedented four Premier League matches without victory.
Villa were fortuitous Bailey’s strike looped in via Rúben Dias but by that point they had more than created their own luck with a rip-roaring performance. By the end, City were on the ropes, Ederson reeling as his defence crumbled in front of him. Douglas Luiz, the former City midfielder, cracked a shot against a post late on as Villa hunted for a second.
