The Norway hitman had two shots within 30 seconds in the 11th minute, and then went missing as City were soundly outplayed by their high-flying hosts

Champions Manchester City lost more ground in the Premier League title race as they were soundly beaten by high-flying Aston Villa on Wednesday night, with the 1-0 scoreline not telling the whole story.

City struggled throughout, with perhaps their best opening coming after 11 minutes, when Erling Haaland was sent through on goal and denied twice in succession by two brilliant Emiliano Martinez saves. Indeed, that was their only sight of goal for the entirety of the 90 minutes.

Villa continually had the ball, and more than rattled City, with world-class players making basic errors.

Indeed, in the second half, with the game wearing on, Villa looked like the only team capable of scoring, and Leon Bailey did just that – seeing his shot from range deflect off Ruben Dias and into the back of the net.

This was a dire performance from Guardiola’s side, who are now fourth, behind third-placed Villa, and six points behind leaders Arsenal.

GOAL rates City’s players from Villa Park…

Goalkeeper & Defence

Ederson (7/10):

Denied Torres with an excellent save and was repeatedly called into action, keeping City in the game. Beaten by the deflection on Bailey’s shot. Blameless.

Kyle Walker (4/10):

Struggled at times down the right and gave the ball away multiple times. Villa kept him in his own half, hugely limiting his effectiveness.

Ruben Dias (5/10):

Some excellent interceptions but did not look hugely comfortable against Ollie Watkins and deflected Bailey’s effort beyond Ederson. Looked aghast at some of the play in front of him.

Josko Gvardiol (6/10):

Made a goal-saving tackle to deny Youri Tielemans in the first half, but only after giving the ball away. Continued to step in with bold blocks, and seemed to relish the pace of the game.

John Stones (5/10):

Booked for a cynical challenge on the stroke of half-time. Did step into midfield when he could but could not exert too much influence on the play, with City often overrun.

Manuel Akanji (4/10):

Alongside Stones in a more advanced role, but could not cope with Villa’s pace and was run absolutely ragged.

Midfield

Bernardo Silva (5/10):

Always effective on the ball but seemed slightly uncomfortable on the right, and was marshalled well by Digne.

Rico Lewis (5/10):

Constantly on the move and willing to receive the ball. His influence waned, and he was booked for an obvious shirt pull on Douglas Luiz as he broke away and was subbed after the hour.

Phil Foden (4/10):

Some nice touches but an airshot rather summed up his evening, as he couldn’t get the final ball right. Subbed for Oscar Bobb with 20 minutes left.

Attack

Julian Alvarez (4/10):

Did his best to drop in and link play but was feeding off scraps and could not find Haaland with any regularity. Subbed. A frustrating evening.

Erling Haaland (2/10):

Denied by a superb Martinez double save early on but that was his only impact. His shots came in the 11th minute, and thereafter, he was completely anonymous – due in large part to Villa’s superb defending.

Subs & Manager

Mateo Kovacic (5/10):

On for Alvarez. Could not stem the tide.

Matheus Nunes (5/10):

Replaced Lewis. Barely able to touch the ball.

Oscar Bobb (5/10):

On for Foden. Had no impact.

Pep Guardiola (3/10):

As bad a performance from City as one can remember. They were completely dominated, and Guardiola’s changes did nothing to fix it. They don’t look anything like the treble winners of last season.