Nicolas Jackson brace powered Aston Villa to a memorable 2-1 victory over Manchester City at Villa Park in Birmingham, ending the league leaders’ 100% start to the English Premier League season after eight matches. Villa was first to get on the scoreboard after he found a gap in the defence in the sixth minute. Marc Guehi’s defensive free-kick saw him lose his composure as John McGinn picked up the ball and put Jackson into the bottom corner.
City were behind, but managed to dominate much of the game and had 63% possession. They took 15 shots and seven of them were on target, whereas Villa took eight shots and missed them all. But the home side were unable to convert their lead into a goal, despite being in command. City would eventually even the score in the 53rd minute. It came as a free kick, and it was met with a cross from Iliman Ndiaye in the box.
Haaland overpowered the defence to set up a header to the bottom corner to get the visitors back in the game. Villa in reply exploded eight minutes later with Jackson adding to his brace to even the score. Ibrahim Mbaye was running like a demon down the right-hand corner before slotting the ball back into the box and the Senegalese forward calmly hammered it under goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The second goal was the difference as Villa held on to keep the joy at an all-time 100% with all three points against one of the Premier League’s top teams. After the game, Jackson told TNT Sports the win was a big milestone against the big boys of the league. He commended City’s standard but emphasised his squad had to move on and focus on their upcoming match.Â
