Man City player ratings vs Aston Villa: Two 4/10s disappoint as golden opportunity missed

Manchester City suffered their first defeat since August, losing 1-0 to Aston Villa courtesy of a first-half strike from Matty Cash at Villa Park. Nico Gonzalez was only fit enough for the bench after his knock in Villarreal, leading to Tijjani Reijnders starting in holding midfield for the first time this season. The visitors started brightly but soon succumbed to pressure from the home team, who scored through Cash and looked to add another.

City improved in the second half but failed to find an equaliser, with Erling Haaland's late effort being ruled out for offside against Omar Marmoush, missing an opportunity to keep the gap to Premier League leaders Arsenal to three points after Liverpool's defeat at Brentford. Here are the player ratings from Express Sport...

Donnarumma: Powerless to prevent the goal and made a decent save when Sancho broke through. Had little else to do. 6.

Nunes: Showed some solid defending but misplaced too many passes, putting City under unnecessary pressure. 5.

Stones: Failed to match his midweek performance and was caught out several times having pushed up only for City to lose possession. 5.

Dias: Managed reasonably well considering Watkins had him beaten for pace and recovered from a nasty fall in the second half. 6.

Gvardiol: Appears far from his best form, struggling both on the ball and in physical battles. 4.

Reijnders: Looked uncomfortable in an unfamiliar role and failed to contribute at either end of the pitch. 5.

Silva: His frequent position changes seemed more a result of City's confusion than strategy, and his passing was off. 5.

Foden: He stepped up in the second half as City pressed, unlucky with a blocked shot but needs to create more opportunities. 6.

Bobb: He seemed out of sorts and didn't make good use of the ball when he had it. An obvious choice for an early substitution. 4.

Savinho: Unlucky to have two promising attempts blocked in the same attack, but his overall performance was lacking when it came to picking out a teammate. 5.

Haaland: Solid in defence during Villa's set-pieces, but failed to capitalise on his one opportunity to level the score. 6.

Substitutes

Gonzalez (for Stones, 61) Brought more control to City's game. 7.

O'Reilly (for Silva, 61) Made strong advances on the left, causing problems for Cash. 7.

Doku (for Bobb, 61) Showed some smart play on the left. 7.

Cherki (for Reijnders, 76) Once again showed promise. 6.

Marmoush (for Savinho, 84) Caught offside at a crucial moment. 6.

Not used: Trafford, Ake, Lewis, Kovacic.