• 2 days ago
BirminghamWorld reporter Charlie Haffenden's reaction after Aston Villa's 2-1 victory over Manchester City in the Premier League, courtesy of goals from Morgan Rogers and Jhon Duran.
Transcript
00:00Aston Villa have done it again. Victorious over champions Manchester City at Villa Park in December.
00:08Just like last year when Unai Emery's men won 1-0 here in December, they've won 2-1 today.
00:14Goals from John Duran and Morgan Rodgers sealing the deal against the struggling champions.
00:19Pep Guardiola now with just one win in his last 12 matches in all competitions.
00:24But as Unai Emery said before today's game, anything can happen when you play Man City.
00:29It doesn't matter really the results they've had recently.
00:31They're still one of the greatest teams of our generation and they needed to respect them.
00:36That's exactly what Villa did, but they did come out of the blocks incredibly quickly,
00:40thinking they need to get a good start to try and get a foothold in this game.
00:43John Duran within just 18 seconds could have taken the lead.
00:47Played through on goal by John McGinn, Duran maybe shoots a little bit too early, forcing a save from Ortega.
00:53The resulting corner, Pau Torres went millimetres away from opening the scoring.
00:58Header, a fantastic stop from Ortega onto the crossbar, so nearly went over the line but not quite.
01:04Duran though, he made amends for his earlier missed opportunity by scoring in the 16th minute, making it 1-0.
01:10Some great work again in midfield.
01:12This time it was Emi Martinez through to Uri Tielemans.
01:15On the half turn, an exceptional through pass.
01:18Morgan Rodgers dribbles on through and then has the awareness to pick out John Duran to his right.
01:24Duran still has a fair bit to do to beat Ortega.
01:26Hits it first time and a very cool finish in off the floor into the bottom left-hand corner.
01:32Villa, before half-time, there were a few warning signs from City as they dominated possession, had several chances.
01:38Jack Grealish, the main threat over on the left-hand side.
01:41Matty Cash, really struggling to deal with the former Villa man.
01:44But in the second half, Villa came out of the blocks firing once again and they regained control of this match.
01:50Morgan Rodgers, who of course himself is a former Man City man, really made his former employers regret his sale as he scored a fine second goal.
02:00He started it, he finished it off.
02:02Within his own half, dribbled past two or three City players before finding John McGinn out on the right-hand side.
02:08McGinn, he then waited patiently.
02:10Great awareness from him to pick out Rodgers just inside the area.
02:14Rodgers skips past the challenge from Kyle Walker and fizzles it across goal into the bottom right-hand corner for 2-0.
02:20Villa, from that point on, didn't actually make a substitution until the 80th minute when Duran made way for Ollie Watkins.
02:26Emery didn't want to disrupt the rhythm because Villa were just able to dominate possession and control things and try and see out the game.
02:33There was a late goal from Phil Foden in stoppage time, but it wasn't enough for City to get back into things.
02:39Luca Dean, a little bit disappointing from him missing the ball and allowing Foden, who pressed well, to get there and put it beyond Martinez.
02:47The only real downside today was a lack of clean sheet, but what a victory just before Christmas.
02:52An early present for all those Villa fans in attendance here today and full of confidence ahead of the Boxing Day trip away at Newcastle United.

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