Bailey earns Villa a point at home to City

Leon Bailey earned Aston Villa a draw at Villa Park after Erling Haaland had given Manchester City the lead with the visitors missing the chance to go top of the table.

Despite being strongly linked with a move away from the club on deadline day, Douglas Luiz returned to the starting XI for Steven Gerrard’s team with Jan Bednarek was among the substitutes. Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola brought Kevin de Bruyne back into the team in the place of Julián Álvarez. 

City started fully in control at Villa Park but the home team were far more resilient than they had been in recent fixtures with the visitors not managing a single shot on target in the first 45 minutes.

However, midway through the first half Villa were forced into a change when Matty Cash went off injured to be replaced by Ashley Young.

The Citizens improved after the break and took the lead just five minutes after the restart. 

No prizes for guessing who the goal scorer was. Erling Haaland was able to finish a cross from De Bruyne at close range to put himself up to 10 goals faster than anyone else has in Premier League history.

Villa didn’t let their heads drop though, Jacob Ramsey went through on goal soon after but was quickly closed down by the onrushing Ederson.

De Bruyne almost made it two for City with a superb free-kick from just outside the box that dipped and would have given Emiliano Martínez no chance had it been just an inch lower.

Aston Villa’s hard work eventually paid off in the 74th minute when Ramsey did well to find space and fizz a low pass that Leon Bailey met with a powerful effort that Ederson had no chance of getting to.

City weren’t able to pile the pressure on in the chase for an equaliser, although Phil Foden had a good chance well-saved by Martínez late on in the game.

It wasn’t a vintage Manchester City performance by any means and they missed the chance to go top of the Premier League. 

But this was a very different Aston Villa side than we’ve seen so far this season, showing much more belief and keeping their shape and discipline throughout the 90 minutes to gain a well-earned point.

xG: Aston Villa (0.26) 1-1 (2.03) Manchester City

Aston Villa hit back to claim an impressive point against the defending champions#AVLMCI pic.twitter.com/wyBsWNK64d

— Premier League (@premierleague) September 3, 2022