Man City 4-0 Aston Villa
by James Nalton
at Eastlands

Manchester City secured a much needed win against Aston Villa on Saturday as four second-half goals and an outstanding display from Sergio Aguero saw them cruise to victory.

Manuel Pellegrini’s men are looking to secure their absolute minimum aim of a top-four spot but the manager thinks they still have a shot at the title.

“I think that all the teams will lose points from now until the end of the season,” he said. “When you are arriving to the end, the pressure will be more, so to have more experience [from previous title wins] will be very important.

“We need to close that gap when Arsenal, Tottenham and Leicester lose points.”

At the other end of the table, bottom-placed Villa look like they’re already preparing for life in the Championship, despite Remi Garde asserting otherwise. “Of course I am focused on this season. I’m not crazy,” said the Frenchman.

“We’ve got nine games to play and mathematically everything is still possible. It’s not at all the time to speak about next season for nobody in the club, either for the players or myself.”

His side defended in numbers throughout the first half and it was enough to keep City at bay.

They posed an occasional threat on the counter-attack through Jordan Ayew and Gabriel Agbonlahor but for most of the half they had all 11 men in their own defensive third.

The second period was a different story, however, and once the home side opened the scoring through Yaya Toure three minutes after the break, the floodgates opened.

City doubled their lead shortly after when Wilfried Bony, who’d been below par throughout, sent a ball through to Aguero.

The pass was intercepted by Micah Richards but his clearance bounced off Aguero and into the goal. The Argentinian scored the third in a more deliberate fashion, firing in at the near post after a classy one-two between himself and David Silva rounded off an excellent team move.

Bony was replaced by Raheem Sterling midway through the second half and the England winger joined in the scoring when he tapped in a Jesus Navas cross at the far post.

The ball somehow evaded several Villa defenders as it bobbled across the six-yard box. 

It was a good display from the Sky Blues but they’ll have to pass tougher tests if they’re to win the title.