Aston Villa vs. Manchester City: Winners and Losers from Premier League Game
Manchester City took a Premier League victory late at Aston Villa on Saturday evening, eventually winning 2-0.
Yaya Toure scored the first goal of the game after plenty of second-half pressure from the reigning league champions, and Sergio Aguero doubled the lead soon after. But that only tells the end result of the match; the entire 90 minutes was made up of many more storylines from each team and its players.
Here are our winners and losers from the game at Villa Park.
Winner: James Milner and David Silva
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With Samir Nasri out injured, Manuel Pellegrini opted to field James Milner over Jesus Navas and started David Silva on the opposite flank.
The two wide midfielders were instrumental in the victory. Milner worked ferociously off the ball, tracked back well and provided quality going forward, being unlucky not to set up a goal or two during the course of the first half as he roved the width of the area freely.
Silva was exceptional after the break, finding space between Villa's lines, playing passes into the area and almost opening the scoring himself. A big performance from the two wide men.
Loser: Mangala and Co., Left Side
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In defence, City weren't always as comfortable in the first half as they were in the second, with Eliaquim Mangala not really enjoying a particularly fine evening.
His touch was heavy, slow and overly ambitious at times. He gave the ball away when passing into midfield and was caught in possession more than once, leading to the odd chance for Villa after transitions.
Not much was required of him defensively after the break. City started to dominate, but it was far from a certain performance from the Frenchman, especially when Vincent Kompany beside him was near-perfect throughout.
Winners: Villa Midfield Trio
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They might have finally been breached inside the last 10 minutes by Yaya Toure striding forward, but Aston Villa's three-man central midfield matched the champions' efforts on and off the ball for much of the game.
Fabian Delph harassed and was excellent in driving forward, Ashley Westwood showed all his defensive awareness to make interceptions and close out space, and Tom Cleverley showed his range of passing and workrate. Between them, they cover most of the bases for a good standard Premier League midfield, complementing each other nicely with their range of skills. They look a good foundation for the rest of Villa's season to be built from.
Loser: Andi Weimann
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Villa had their opportunities on the counter-attack during the game, but they were simply too lacking in quality inside the penalty box to make those chances and half-chances count.
Andi Weimann wasn't initially supposed to be in the starting lineup and came in at short notice for the ill Gabby Agbonlahor. But Weimann couldn't take any of the decent balls into the box, missing the target too often with a couple of headers and not linking up enough with the wide attackers despite his hard work.
He played an hour, but Villa had one shot on target all game, which tells its own story.
Winner: Nathan Baker
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The final winner of the game has to go to Villa's centre-back Nathan Baker. He was immense for the entirety of the 90 minutes, keeping the likes of Edin Dzeko and Aguero at bay time and time again.
His aerial dominance and agility to readjust and make clearances consistently made him the standout player for his team, with the eventual City goals late on not coming as a result of him or his position in the back line.
In the absence of Ron Vlaar, Villa needed a leader at the back, and Baker gave them exactly that, putting in a determined and consistent effort to take his team close to a perfect defensive performance.
