Manchester City dropped their first points of the Premier League season as Nicolas Jackson scored twice for impressive Aston Villa in a 2-1 win at Villa Park.
City had won their first seven games of the campaign but Enzo Maresca suffered his first league defeat at the hands of Unai Emery’s new-look side.
Jackson, signed from Chelsea as part of the club’s drastic rebuild this summer, has now scored four goals in his last four appearances for Villa in the Premier League.
The Senegal international opened the scoring after just six minutes as he punished an error from Marc Guehi before firing into the roof of Gianluigi Donnarumma’s net.
Maresca made a double-change at the break as he replaced Guehi and Rayan Cherki for Rico Lewis and Phil Foden, who was benched despite scoring a Champions League hat-trick in midweek.
Erling Haaland scored for the seventh Premier League game in a row as he headed in Iliman Ndiaye’s cross to give City hope following the restart, before Jackson struck again.
The forward smashed in a shot from a low cross from Villa substitute Ibrahim Mbaye that squirmed under the body of the City goalkeeper Donnarumma.
Villa failed to win any of their first four games of the Premier League season but Emery’s team have since won three out of their last four league games.
City remain top but champions Arsenal could go level on points with them after eight games this season should they beat Everton at the Emirates this afternoon.
City were playing in their second Premier League away game since the club were found guilty of almost all of the Premier League’s charges relating to breaches of financial rules last month.
The club have appealed the ruling of the independent commission but they faced another hostile atmosphere at Villa Park and chants of “cheating b------s” throughout the match.
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