Manchester City’s perfect start to the Premier League, with seven straight wins under manager Enzo Maresca, came to a dramatic end at the hands of Aston Villa. Maresca’s side failed to find a solution to their problems at “Villa Park”, where they have now lost for four consecutive seasons. Nicolas Jackson scored twice for Unai Emery’s side, continuing the excellent form of a Villa team that has been rebuilt. Erling Haaland briefly equalised early in the second half, but Maresca was forced to regret that City did not make use of their dominance for most of the game. “We lost because perhaps we were not clinical enough in their area,” Maresca said after the match.
Aston Villa, who won the Europa League last season, faced high-profile departures during the transfer window. But Emery has quickly managed to shape his new squad, with Jackson proving his critics wrong after a difficult spell at Chelsea. The Senegalese striker took advantage of a mistake by Marc Guehi to put Villa ahead after just six minutes. Another of Villa’s new signings, Zion Suzuki, then denied City with a series of stunning saves. Haaland scored his 13th goal in 10 matches this season to equalise. However, Villa responded quickly after Gianluigi Donnarumma failed to stop Jackson’s low strike in the 60th minute, sealing the win. “A fantastic day to share with our fans at Villa Park,” Emery said. “We feel this is our fortress and the energy the fans gave us was truly fantastic.”
Arsenal took advantage of this result to climb to the top of the table alongside City, collecting 21 points from eight matches, thanks to a routine 2-0 win over Everton. Without the creative inspiration of Bukayo Saka, who is expected to be out for a long period with a hip injury, Arsenal were forced to rely on their ability from set pieces to secure the victory. Ezri Konsa scored his first goal for the club after Everton failed to clear a corner, opening the scoring in the seventh minute. Fellow centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes doubled the lead for Mikel Arteta’s side in the middle of the second half.
Meanwhile, Fulham further eased the pressure on manager Alvaro Arbeloa with a 1-0 win at Coventry, thanks to an individual effort from Oscar Bobb. This second straight win lifts the “Cottagers” out of the relegation zone and up to 12th place. Tottenham are also looking to escape the bottom three when they travel to Chelsea in the evening match, aiming to improve a terrible record at “Stamford Bridge”. On Sunday, the focus will be on Manchester United manager Michael Carrick when his side face Bournemouth. A run of seven matches without a win has called Carrick’s future into question, just months after he was appointed on a two-year contract following a successful interim spell at the end of last season.
Source: France 24 Live News