Guehi and Donnarumma both slipped, and Nicolas Jackson’s double ended Man City’s perfect start

The first goal came from a defender’s touch and the second from a goalkeeper’s dive. Nicolas Jackson was on the end of both, and Manchester City’s perfect Premier League start ended at Villa Park on Saturday lunchtime.

Enzo Maresca’s side had won all seven league games before this one. They are still top, on 21 points from eight matches. It just no longer looks automatic.

Guehi’s touch and an early lead

Villa needed six minutes. Marc Guehi took a loose touch, John McGinn won the ball and found Jackson, who beat Gianluigi Donnarumma. It set the tone for a scrappy, physical half: by Sky Sports’ count, Villa made more tackles in the first 45 minutes than they had in any opening half of a Premier League game this season or last.

City still made chances. Zion Suzuki saved from Rayan Cherki and Iliman Ndiaye, and Ndiaye later hit the post. Guehi had been booked, and Maresca took him off at half-time.

It was Ndiaye who made the equaliser. Seven minutes after the restart, a short free kick found him and his cross was headed in by Erling Haaland. For a spell City looked the likelier winners.

Then Villa scored again. On the hour, Jackson hooked a ball forward for substitute Ibrahim Mbaye, kept running, and met the cross first time. Donnarumma went down for it and the ball squirmed under him. Late on Haaland got his head to another ball, goal-bound this time, and Ian Maatsen cleared it.

Jackson’s run and Suzuki’s afternoon

Jackson now has six goals in his last six games. He is 25, joined from Chelsea in August, and is finishing the kind of chances his critics said he missed too often there.

Suzuki, signed from Parma in the summer, was the busier keeper and the better one. Donnarumma had little to do, and the one shot that mattered went under him.

Maresca put it down to finishing. “We lost because we were not being clinical enough in their box,” he said. He also defended Guehi, who has played every minute this season for City and for his country: “I’m not worried about Marc at all.” The half-time change, he said, was partly about the yellow card.

What it means for both sides

Villa had not won a home league game all season, although they beat Fenerbahçe 6-0 at Villa Park in the Champions League on 14 October. This win lifts them to sixth on 11 points, their second league win in a row and their sixth win in seven games in all competitions.

For City, it is a fourth straight league defeat at Villa Park. They are still three points clear, but Arsenal started the day on 18 points from seven games and could draw level by beating Everton at home later on Saturday.

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