When Unai Emery’s Aston Villa beat Pep Guardiola’s Man City in midweek to leapfrog them into third position in the Premier League table, it was the first time in 13 attempts that the Villains had beaten the Citizens.
It was also Emery’s first triumph over Guardiola in 13 attempts, and the match was also notable for being the one where a side managed by Pep had faced the most shots in a game as well as managing the least attempts themselves.
Frankly, it was an absolute mauling, and the Villa fans in attendance, including Stan Collymore, absolutely loved every minute of it.
“If Villa’s performance against City isn’t the Premier League performance of the season, it will be one of them. It’s just a shame really that it wasn’t on Sky as a main game where more people could’ve seen it,” he said in his exclusive column for CaughtOffside.
“I think that what the Villa players did, extraordinarily well, was going out onto that pitch, feeling they could win against anybody. That confidence meant it was always going to be a difficult night for City, but I think it was just the incessant pressure that saw Pep’s side fall apart.
“City possibly had five to six minutes in the second half where they controlled possession, before Villa dominated again.
“I thought that John McGinn’s performance was one of the individual performances in the Premier League, Boubacar Kamara’s too. The closing down, not giving City a second and inflicting their own game on the opponent… intensity, physicality at times Villa players looked as if they were showboating and relishing the challenge of beating their opposite number.
“I’ve been going to Villa for 45 years and it would certainly be up there in the top five or six performances I’ve seen from an Aston Villa team.”
For whatever reason, the reigning champions just aren’t clicking at the moment, and it was their fourth Premier League game in a row that they’d failed to win – unheard of in the Guardiola era.
Emery, meanwhile, celebrated his 50th match in charge of Villa with one of his best career victories to date.
Every little detail seemed to be taken care of and however hard City tried to penetrate the Villa defence, they were repelled.
Though it was only a 1-0 scoreline, the win was incredibly comprehensive. City were well beaten in every aspect, and if anyone was in any doubt whether Villa were title contenders or not, that performance gave them an answer.
Aston villa have started the season well.