Pep beat Emery and Arsenal de Arteta could reach on Wednesday

Pep Guardiola, coach of Manchester City, said in January that it was impossible for his team to revalidate the Premier. But the truth is, after beating Unai Emery’s Aston Villa 3-1 this Sunday at the Etihad, the ‘citizens’ are only 3 points behind the leader, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenalwhich they will reach if they beat him this Wednesday at the Etihad. Maximum pressure for the ‘gunners’who are looking for their first Premier since 2003-04 and who, in any case, will still have, after taking on City, a game in hand.

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The story goes that Unai Emery has never beaten Pep Guardiola and it happened again in their 13th match (now there are 9 wins for the Catalan and 4 draws). In the first half, City did not give Aston Villa a chance, where, with an excellent Kevin de Bruyne, a brilliant Rodri and Erling Haaland dominating the area, they continued to outplay the offensive. The Norwegian star did not score, but assisted Ilkay Gundogan with the second goal for Guardiola’s men. Emiliano ‘Dibu’ Martínez prevented another Gündogan goal with an anthological save.

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Rodri scored the first, with a header, assisted by Riyad Mahrez. It’s minute 4. So Aston Villa received the first blow. The second did not come, despite City’s superiority, until 39′, when Gündogan scored after a cross from Haaland after a superb attack. And at the discount in the first half, Mahrez made it 3-0, converting a penalty made by Ramsey to Jack Grealish, still an idol of Aston Villa fans, where he arrived at the Etihad club in 2021 .

The game was somewhat balanced in the second half. City missed Haaland, replaced by Julián Álvarez after the break. Despite how difficult the match was, Aston Villa came before Ederson’s goal. Ollie Watkins managed to close the gap after a City error. A bad pass from Laporte led to the loss of Bernardo Silva in the 61′.

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The entrance of Philippe Coutinho, specialist scoring goals at the Etihad and coming on in the 76th minute to replace Ashley Young, gave the Birmingham men more spirit and the former Barcelona player was about to score a great shot, although Ederson pointlessly deflected the ball to his team. Like Konsa in 66′, Julián Álvarez stopped scoring.

In the 85′ minute, Nathan Aké came out to further protect the Brazilian goal and relieve to a Riyad Mahrez who just sent the ball into the clouds. Jhon Durán hits the ball on the crossbar. The reality is that City face the possibility of catching an Arsenal on Wednesday that Guardiola said he saw as out of reach.