Jackson double helps Villa to end City's run
Nicolas Jackson punished two sloppy errors as Manchester City's winning start to the Premier League season was halted in a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa.
Jackson scored in either half at Villa Park, aided by a dismal touch from Marc Guehi for his sixth-minute opener and some weak goalkeeping from Gianluigi Donnarumma for his second goal on the hour.
Erling Haaland pulled City level at the start of the second half, but Enzo Maresca's side was unable to respond after falling behind for a second time.
It did not take long for the suspect defending that has plagued City this season to rear its head, as a dreadful individual error from Guehi led to Villa's breakthrough.
Guehi was under no pressure as he looked to bring down a chipped pass from Ruben Dias, but he knocked the ball off his standing leg and into the path of John McGinn, who immediately released Jackson.
The Senegal international still had plenty to do, but he skipped inside Elliot Anderson then lashed into the roof of the net from close range.
Jackson dragged another effort wide, but it was City that spent much of the first half pushing for a goal. Zion Suzuki did brilliantly to tip Iliman Ndiaye's curler around the post and was later fortunate to see a near-identical effort from the same player strike the upright.
Between those close calls, Suzuki held Rayan Cherki's shot under pressure from Haaland, while Abdukodir Khusanov also called Villa's goalkeeper into action.
City's pressure finally told in the 52nd minute as Ndiaye's hanging cross from the right was nodded home by Haaland.
The visitors had a glorious chance to go 2-1 up when Josko Gvardiol's shot was pushed on to the crossbar by Suzuki, but Villa then struck at the other end, with another error costing City.
Jackson's clever pass released Ibrahim Mbaye down the right flank, and when the substitute supplied a return ball into the middle, the shot from Villa's striker was straight at Donnarumma. However, the Italian went down awkwardly and let it squirm beneath him.
City was restricted to half-chances from then on, with Suzuki smothering the ball at Gvardiol's feet and Ian Maatsen clearing a Haaland header off his line, as Unai Emery's men clung on for another statement win.
City boss Enzo Maresca said he thought his side was unfortunate not to win, and bemoaned what he deemed to be misfortune through the match.
“When we scored, I had the feeling the entire game we were in control," Maresca said.
"We created many chances but sometimes we have to be more lucky. We considered just one transition the entire second half and unfortunately, they score.
"We struggled the first probably 10-15 minutes and we expected them in one way and they were in a different way. We adjusted and controlled the game.
“Even for us it was a good game, performance. Unfortunately, we lost but overall we did enough to deserve something more. We’ll learn from it and move on."
Villa boss Emery tempered expectations after another big win for his side.
"We are progressing but we are under our expectations from the beginning of the season because we started so poorly," he said.
"Now we are progressing, improving. We analysed the match against Arsenal at home. We competed well but it wasn’t enough. We analysed the match against Forest at home. We lost and our performance was so, so bad. We improved so many things against Brentford at home. We were better but it was not enough.
"Today, with everything we worked on to try to set our standards high, it was a step forward. In the league, we are progressing but still under expectation.
"We planned this match, trying to keep the same consistency and demands. This is the level we want to achieve and keep. High demands. Today was a really good test.
"I was so excited about this test, how we were facing them. After the match, progressively, it's about getting better.
"Eventually, the players will have a good impact when we need them. Today is one step forward. That is our clear, clear understanding.”
