Manchester City 3-1 Aston Villa

Aston Villa were defeated by Manchester City in the Premier League at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

Rodri opened the scoring in the fourth minute when he headed home Riyad Mahrez’s corner.

İlkay Gündoğan tapped in a second before Mahrez converted a penalty to make it 3-0 at half-time.

On his 100^th appearance for Villa, Ollie Watkins found the net just after the hour mark with a cool finish.

Philippe Coutinho’s dipping shot called Ederson into a world-class save before Jhon Durán’s volley smacked the crossbar as the away side gave City a scare.

Villa were without Tyrone Mings in Manchester as they chased a fourth consecutive away win, offering Calum Chambers the chance to make his second league start of the season.

City had endured a week in the headlines for the wrong reasons but they made a flying start to the game when Rodri powered home a near-post header from Mahrez’s corner.

Soon after, the Spanish midfielder created a golden opportunity for Gündoğan, who was denied by a superb save from Emi Martínez after going through one-on-one.

Villa’s No1 was called into action once again to keep out former teammate Jack Grealish when the wideman looked to curl a shot inside the far post.

There was nothing Martínez could do when City doubled their lead on 39 minutes. Erling Haaland ran in behind the visitor’s backline before firing the ball across the face of goal for a waiting Gündoğan, who took care of the rest.

Two quickly became three when Grealish drew a foul from Jacob Ramsey in the penalty area, with Mahrez converting the spot kick as the half ticked into stoppage time.

City flew out of the blocks once again at the start of the second half and drew a fine save from Martínez via Rodri’s drive.

A triple change from Unai Emery, who brought on Álex Moreno, John McGinn, Durán, immediately preceded his side finding the back of the net.

Douglas Luiz showed great tenacity to win the ball in midfield before sliding a pass through to Watkins, and the striker made no mistake with a composed finish.

Chances were at a premium as the hosts looked to see the game out before substitute Coutinho fired in a dipping long-range shot that brought the best out of Ederson.

And in the final minutes Durán came agonisingly close to his first Villa goal when his volley cannoned off the crossbar.