Manchester City head into the festive period with their form struggles continuing at an alarming rate.
Pep Guardiola’s team have won just one of their last 12 games in all competitions including six defeats in the Premier League.
The latest setback came via a 2-1 weekend loss away at Aston Villa as Unai Emery masterminded a superb performance against the defending EPL champions.
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Victory for the hosts moves them above City in the EPL rankings, into sixth place, with Guardiola’s charges slipping down to seventh.
England international Morgan Rogers played a central role for Emery against City, laying on an early assist for Jhon Duran, before netting his fifth league goal of the campaign so far.
The 22-year-old emerged through City’s academy as a highly-rated teenager – alongside Cole Palmer – but Guardiola opted to sell him to Middlesbrough in 2023.
His rise took him immediately to the Premier League, after just six months on Teeside, and he is a real force in Villa’s ongoing push for glory this season.
Aston Villa ‘will pick you off’ – Rogers
Despite not making a first team appearance for City under Guardiola, Rogers offered an insight on how Villa secured successive home wins over their illustrious rivals, and what is currently impacting his old team.
“It’s still just as difficult to play them. The way they move the ball, the way they shift and their patterns of play, it’s still just as hard,” via the Manchester Eventing News.
“You might not think they are getting the results, but it’s still 90 minutes of graft, work, real hard determination which you need, or they are going to pick you off – regardless of whether you are in a good vein of form – they are quality players.
“Bravery was the big one for us – just to be brave with the ball and show what we are all about.
“I think City found it difficult against us. Especially in the second half, there were times when we dominated them, and imposed ourselves on them. We felt on top and they couldn’t get out.”
Rogers’ final comment indicates how EPL teams are starting to feel if they can overpower City, a win is in the equation, as Guardiola searches for answers.
City host an Everton side in superb defensive form on December 26 as Aston Villa head to Newcastle United.
