Manchester City's 1-1 draw with Aston Villa on Saturday had a familiar feeling to it. Not because of the result itself — after all, City had won 14 of their previous 16 league meetings with Villa — but because of the manner in which it came about.
It was the kind of performance we saw a few times last season, particularly in the spring when Liverpool reduced City's lead at the top of the table from 14 points (with two games in hand) to one. Pep Guardiola's side were not at their brilliant best, but for large parts of the game they were pretty good.
When Kevin de Bruyne crossed to the back post and Erling Haaland found himself in acres of space to score the opener, City seemed to spark into life. They played their best football of the game in the 25 minutes that followed, awoken from their first half slumber by a goal that came from nothing.
