Matty Cash screamer earns Villans fourth straight win in blow to Pep Guardiola’s title hopes

But Villa boss Unai Emery’s hold over City on home territory rarely looked like being prised open.

And it turned out to be the perfect way for the Spaniard to mark three years in charge at Villa Park.

Emery made six changes from the side that suffered a shock Europa League defeat at Dutch side Go Ahead Eagles on Thursday.

But there was no place in the squad for on-loan Liverpool forward Harvey Elliott – who has started just one Premier League game for Villa.

The moves came just two days after Emery publicly said the player’s performances were ‘not enough’.

That fuelled talk of Elliott returning to Liverpool early – with Emery clearly not convinced he is better than the players he already has in the No10 role.

City recalled Phil Foden and Tijjani Reijnders after being on the bench against Villarreal in midweek.

And it was Reijnders who threatened the Villa goal after six minutes with a shot that dipped just over from 20 yards out.

But it was Cash who opened the scoring.

The ball fell to him after an exchange on the left between Emi Buendia and Lucas Digne at a corner.

But the Argentinian’s cross almost fell to Morgan  – and instead drifted out to Cash.

The Villa right-back needed no second invitation though – and drilled the ball home.

Cash added that to his spectacular strike at Sunderland last month.’

But City’s response was almost immediate as Haaland produced a rare missed opportunity when he was released by skipper Bernardo Silva. 

He was through on goal but could not get his shot past Villa keeper Emi Martinez.

Guardiloa’s side were strangely lacklustre before the break considering their recent run of form.

But Villa suffered a blow when Buendia was forced to limp off with what appeared to be an ankle injury.

He seemed to have been suffering since the goal – and Emery brought on Jadon Sancho for his fifth appearance of the season.

Villa still looked capable of extending their lead though and John McGinn’s goalbound shot was deflected wide by John Scales.

Ollie Watkins was then presented with a free header, but he could not take advantage.

City upped their game after the break and needed some defiant defending at times – no more so than on the hour mark.

Savinho’s shot looked set to creep in at the far post, but Pau Torres was there to clear off the line.

Guardiola decided this was the time to make a change – with three subs coming on for City, Nico O’Reilly, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku.

But Sancho took the game back to City, deftly manouevring the ball along the dead ball line before bringing a double save out of Gianluigi Donnarumma.

That was the Manchester United loanee’s last action though as Emery subbed off the sub with 17 minutes left.

Villa continued to block City’s path and put bodies on the line to make sure of the three points.

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