Man City's winning run ends against Aston Villa

Manchester City suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season on Saturday at Villa Park. The visitors lost 2-1 to Aston Villa. Nicolas Jackson, with two goals, ended the perfect start under Enzo Maresca.

City had won all seven league matches under Maresca, becoming the first manager to achieve that in his first Premier League games with a new club. However, Jackson's early goal and the winning goal in the second half meant City lost in Villa Park for the fourth consecutive league match. Erling Haaland briefly equalised, but that was not enough to change the result.

Villa goalkeeper Zion Suzuki was decisive in the match. He made several crucial saves that prevented City from scoring.

Unai Emery's side secured their sixth win in seven matches across all competitions with this result.

After the match, Emery said he was pleased to share the day with the fans. Over his four years at Villa, Emery has turned the club into a stable team aiming for European competition, and he has also led them into the Champions League. Despite losing important players in recent seasons, he has continued to renew the squad.

Six players from the starting eleven that won last season's Europa League final left the club in this transfer window. Even so, new names such as Jackson, Suzuki, Ibrahim Mbaye and Johan Manzambi have started contributing after a difficult beginning. Villa right-back Matty Cash praised Emery's tactical intelligence and his ability to find new solutions to every problem.

For City, the defeat came despite them being the better side in the first half and creating several chances to control the match. The club's ongoing legal battle with the Premier League over alleged breaches of financial rules creates uncertainty. The team did not let this seriously affect their performance on the pitch. However, mistakes in defence proved decisive against Villa.

Maresca said his side deserved more from the match given the chances they created and conceded. He stressed that they were not effective enough in the opposition penalty area.