Matt Maher gives his take on Aston Villa's 2-1 defeat on at Manchester City.
Marcus Rashford's penalty cancelled out Bernardo Silva's early opener.
But just when it looked as though Villa were set for a crucial point in the race for the Champions League, Matheus Nunes netted a stoppage time winner for City.
Marcus Rashford's penalty cancelled out Bernardo Silva's early opener.
But just when it looked as though Villa were set for a crucial point in the race for the Champions League, Matheus Nunes netted a stoppage time winner for City.
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00:00Good evening from Manchester. Well, just when you thought things were going a little too well for Aston Villa, sure enough, there's the sucker punch.
00:10Matias Nunes in the 94th minute here tonight, earning Manchester City a really precious 2-1 win in the race for the Champions League, the top five positions in the Premier League.
00:21It looked like Villa were going to lose, or their winning run was coming to an end, but it looked like they'd be picking up a fairly decent point here at Manchester City.
00:29Marcus Rashford's 18th minute penalty, cancelling out Bernardo Silva's 7th minute opener, but it was not to be.
00:36Jeremy Doku got past Axel Di Zazi, delivered a decent cross, but a cross that in hindsight should probably have been cut out by the Villa defence.
00:44It wasn't. Former Wolves man Nunes arriving at the back post for what feels a crucial goal and a big twist in a race that is going to have twists and turns.
00:53And I think that's probably the message from Unai Emery, Villa manager after this.
00:57He said the race is still alive, obviously Villa came into this game with so much momentum, five wins in a row, fantastic win over Newcastle on Saturday.
01:07But Villa should know better than any other club really, in the races they've been in the last two years, to get into the Conference League and then the Champions League last year.
01:14There are twists and turns, you're not going to win every game, and it's about how you respond to setbacks.
01:19And it will be about how they respond to this particular setback.
01:23It's going to be hard to catch Manchester City now, but there are five teams in this race going for three positions, and it's far from over.
01:30That is essentially Emery's message. Andy is right.
01:33Villa tonight, well, you know, they were workmanlike without being spectacular.
01:38Rashford had most of the chances, hit the post after just 18 seconds, had another couple of chances where he couldn't quite get the finish right.
01:44But Manchester City had a lot more of the ball, they had more of the chances, but they didn't really threaten Villa's goal after scoring, you know, or say threaten Villa's goal.
01:53They didn't really seriously test Amy Martinez, which made the finish all the more frustrating.
01:58Villa, perhaps, just tonight, look, you know, talk of a game too far.
02:03They weren't quite as sprightly, they weren't quite as intense as they have been in previous games.
02:08And, you know, look, as big as the squad is, you know, it's still been a long season and there is tiredness in those legs.
02:15But, you know, Saturday was such a high point, it was always going to be difficult to follow that up.
02:19But it was so close, you know, to getting what would have been a good result.
02:23Instead, 15 straight defeats here now at the Etihad Stadium going back to 2007.
02:27It's just not a happy place for Villa to come to.
02:31The good news that, you know, what more motivation do you need to get up for the next game?
02:35And the fact that it's an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Saturday.