ETIHAD STADIUM, MANCHESTER — Matheus Nunes was Manchester City’s unlikely hero as his strike deep into stoppage time gave Pep Guardiola’s side a dramatic 2-1 win over top-five rivals Aston Villa.
Marcus Rashford’s seventh career goal against City brought Unai Emery’s team level after Bernardo Silva gave the hosts a seventh-minute lead.
City were in the ascendency for much of the second half but struggled for clear chances against a miserly Villa defence until Silva’s fellow Portugal international Nunes enjoyed a moment to savour in the fourth of five added minutes.
The result moves the soon-to-be-deposed champions up to third, one and two points ahead of Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United respectively, having played a game more. Villa remain seventh after a first Premier League defeat since February.
Latest live updates | Team news and lineups | Where to watch where you are
Man City vs. Aston Villa score
| Fulltime | Goalscorers | |
| Man City | 2 | Silva 7′, Nunes 90+4′ |
| Aston Villa | 1 | Rashford (p) 18′ |
Venue: Etihad Stadium (Manchester, England)
Referee: Craig Pawson
Keep track of every game and every goal via SN’s live Premier League scoreboard
Lineups:
Man City (4-2-4, right to left): 18. Stefan Ortega (GK) — 27. Matheus Nunes, 3. Ruben Dias, 24. Josko Gvardiol, 75. Nico O’Reilly — 8. Mateo Kovacic, 20. Bernardo Silva — 87. James McAtee (11. Jeremy Doku), 17. Kevin De Bruyne, 8. Ilkay Gundogan, 7. Omar Marmoush.
Aston Villa (4-3-3, right to left): 23. Emiliano Martinez (GK) — 2. Matty Cash (3. Axel Disasi), 4. Ezri Konsa, 14. Pau Torres, 12. Lucas Digne — 24. Amadou Onana (21. Marco Asensio), 44. Boubacar Kamara, 8. Youri Tielemans — 41. Jacob Ramsey (7. John McGinn), 9. Marcus Rashford (11, Ollie Watkins), 27. Morgan Rogers (17. Donyell Malen).
MORE: Arne Slot makes bold Man City transfer claim
On-loan Manchester United forward Rashford earlier hit the post just 20 seconds into the contest and was a thorn the side of City all night.
Silva found the breakthrough when he converted Omar Marmoush’s cutback via some generous goalkeeping from Emiliano Martinez.
Villa were gifted a way back into the match when Ruben Dias was adjudged to have fouled Jacob Ramsey after a VAR review. Beneath a hail of boos, Rashford impeccably kept his cool.
The match remained on a knife-edge from that point. James McAtee almost dispatched a fabulous lob for City but it was the England Under-21 international’s replacement who provided a game-breaking moment.
Jeremy Doku burst past fellow substitute Axel Disasi, scattering Villa’s hitherto impeccable organisation in the process. The Belgium winger’s low cross from the left skidded through to the far post, where Nunes gleefully finished to grasp the unquestionable high-point of what has been an often curious two seasons at the Etihad Stadium.
Watch in the US
MATHEUS NUNES WINS IT FOR MAN CITY IN THE FINAL MOMENTS. 😱 pic.twitter.com/juC2CIlS6s
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) April 22, 2025
Watch in the UK
ABSOLUTE SCENES! 🤯
Man City find the net in the dying moments of stoppage time 🔥 pic.twitter.com/MlavhDKfuA
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 22, 2025
Man City vs Aston Villa stats
| Man City | Stat | Aston Villa |
| 14 | Shots | 7 |
| 6 | Shots on target | 3 |
| 1.09 | Expected goals | 1.68 |
| 62% | Possession | 38% |
| 478 | Passes | 301 |
| 10 | Corners | 2 |
| 9 | Fouls | 10 |
| 3 | Yellow cards | 3 |
| 2 | Offsides | 2 |
Man City vs. Aston Villa live updates, highlights, and commentary
Fulltime
That’s it! City go up to third and a generous-looking run-in means that they will surely achieve Champions League qualification now. Their season has been stained by several last-minute disappointments, with Nunes at this scene of some of those crimes. The Portugal midfielder has grappled manfully with right-back duties since Kyle Walker’s mid-season departure and deserved that moment of delirium. Villa’s reserves of quality mean they are not out of the picture by any stretch, but they might face a daunting game of catch-up after this weekend. Thanks for joining us tonight
90+4 mins: GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!! Matheus Nunes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NUNES SURELY WINS IT FOR MANCHESTER CITY! A MASSIVE MOMENT IN THE RACE FOR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PLACES! Doku is the architect as he makes the most of a bad first touch to scoot around Diasi. The cross is excellent but there’s no one there… until Nunes tears in to smash home from a tight angle at the far post.
90+3 mins: Dias with a looping header from De Bruyne’s latest corner that Martinez reads all the way.
90 mins: Five added minutes for either side to find a winner.
88 mins: Gvardiol up to clear. Tieleman fires into the turf from the edge of the box and Ortega gathers.
87 mins: Malen right into the mix on the end of a crossfield ball. O’Reilly blocks behind for a Villa corner.
85 mins: Donyell Malen coming on for Villa. Oh, that’s odd. Watkins seems to sort of grab at Dias running past him. The City defender goes down, Watkins is booked. Weird exchange. Rogers makes way for Malen.
83 mins: Now here’s Watkins, even more offside than Marmoush was, and Gvardiol clears off the line anyway. Not a great couple of minutes for alert forward play.
80 mins: De Bruyne sends Doku away with a dreamy pass. Here comes the cavalry. Marmoush has the ball in the net but is clearly, and pretty needlessly, offside.
79 mins: Ortega pucks a Digne cross with aplomb. Silva takes his throw and drives forward. The Portugal midfielder’s attempted through ball is cut out.
77 mins: Nunes fouls McGinn to stop the Villa counter. He tries the old running-away-from-the-referee trick but that won’t stop him getting a yellow card.
76 mins: Rashford makes way to the send-off you’d expect. Ollie Watkins on in pursuit of a Villa winner. As in Marco Asensio, in an attacking change as Onana makes way. Every sub up until this point has been like-for-like but that should give Villa an extra body in attack.
74 mins: Nunes hangs a ball to the back post. O’Reilly, who is increasingly involved in everything good that City do, knocks it back across. Gundogan sets it up for Marmoush but the Villa defence are on him like a rash and the snapshot goes wide. Doku replaces McAtee, who’s played enterprisingly once again.
72 mins: Jeremy Doku will be with us shortly. He’s currently getting extensive instructions from Pep Guardiola.
70 mins: Kovacic with a careless pass that allows Villa a chance to break. But Rashford has a four-man welcoming party and Dias gets the ball out for a throw.
67 mins: Gvardiol gets up but can’t keep his header down.
66 mins: Ohhhh, a dicey money for Villa. Silva and De Bruyne work the ball out to O’Reilly, who fizzes in a low cross. McAtee misses his kick but that only leads to Torres hitting the ball towards his own goal. Martinez is there to avert the mishap but the visitors have another corner to defend.
63 mins: De Bruyne’s delivery is half cleared and Kovacic volleys through traffic. Martinez watches it well. Now Rashford up the other end, round Ortega… into the side netting! The angle was against him, in fairness. Even with Villa largely on they backfoot since halftime, Rashford looks like the most obvious matchwinner out there.
62 mins: Rogers, on a yellow, trips De Bruyne. No more than a foul, but a heart-in-mouths moment for Villa fans nevertheless.
60 mins: Tielemans tries one off the training group from the free-kick. He hits it intoa wall consisting solely of McAtee. The Vila midfielder launches into a nice dribble after that but City clear and break. De Bruyne releases McAtee, who finds a wonderful lob…. just wide!
59 mins: Rogers comes deep and spins Gvardiol to get Villa up the pitch. Here he is again and draws a foul from the Croatia defender, who is duly booked. Excellent play. John McGinn will be coming on shortly.
58 mins: The latest KDB corner comes in at pace and Martinez claims well.
57 mins: Dias meet De Bruyne’s corner on the volley. Deflected behind. The next one is deep to Marmoush. Deflected behind. Rinse and repeat.
56 mins: De Bruyne hangs a cross to the far post that no City player is near but Cash has to awkwardly head away. It’s only as far as O’Reilly, who skews his volley wide. Now McAtee helps the hosts to hustle a corner. They’re having good spell.
52 mins: Cleared, back to De Bruyne and his latest cross is cleared behind by Belgium colleague Onana. The next corner lands in Martinez’s gloves. Villa’s attempts to break are snuffed out. Martinez is down on the ground complaining that Gundogan ran into him. His main-character energy really is unfailing.
51 mins: De Bruyne over it but McAtee delivers an absolute doozy of a left-footer. Onana does very well to clear behind. Gvardiol gets to De Bruyne’s corner and Cash is forced to nod behind for another.
50 mins: O’Reilly burst forward from left-back. Rogers has a couple of goes at bringing him down and does. A hard-earned booking.
Kickoff: 2nd Half
Off we go again. A potentially pivotal 45 minutes in the season right in front of us. No changes for either side.
Halftime
Kovacic looks for all the world to have shoved Rashford over on the edge of the area. Definitely more of a foul than the penalty. Pawson gives nothing. City break, down goes Marmoush and the official brings an entertaining half to a close.
45 mins: Pawson misses what looks like a fairly obvious handball from De Bruyne. The official needs halftime, only he’s totted up four additional minutes.
44 mins: Digne wins a corner for Villa, who are starting to look the most likely as haltime approaches. Rashford takes, Onana meets it, Dias blocks. McAtee clears and is caught late by Digne, who might want to a a little more careful on his yellow card.
42 mins: Marmoush breaking away on the end of a McAtee pass, goes down under a challenge from Rashford. No foul. Guardiola furiously rubs his head and face.
39 mins: Raking ball over the top for Rashford, who is bang up for this. He prods goalwards but Ortega saves with his legs.
37 mins: Marmoush rises to meet a De Bruyne delivery but gets his timing wrong and heads way over. That gives Martinez another chance to faff about over a goalkick. The home crowd are quite keen to see a booking but referee Pawson is unmoved.
35 mins: Nunes races back to make an excellent challenge on Ramsey. Digne’s tackle in response on De Bruyne is far from excellent and he gets a very obvious booking.
33 mins: Villa play out from the City press wonderfully. Torres and Konsa have been exceptional in possession so far.
32 mins: Tielemans in on the marauding Marmoush to concede a corner, De Bruyne over it. Gvardiol heads over at the near post.
31 mins: Digne delivers another long throw, with he officials not spotting that he stepped on the pitch before he delivered the ball. If Villa had scored then there’d have been a kerfuffle, but Gvardiol rises to get it away.
30 mins: Villa commit men in transition but McAtyee is back to make an important challenge on Digne. The French full-back hurls the resulting throw into the City box and there’s a bit of a scramble before Guardiola’s side clear.
26 mins: Kovacic wriggles into some space after Silva does likewise and Martinez holds a bouncing drive from the Croatia international.
23 mins: Floated cross glanced goalwards by De Bruyne and Martinez belatedly gets his gloves working.
19 mins: Oooofff, some ropey handling from Martinez under pressure from Marmoush threatens to give City their lead back. The Villa goalkeeper has started this evening in the pantomime style.
18 mins: GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!! Marcus Rashford!!!!
Rashford takes his time, whipping up quite the din. He keeps his cool, sits Ortega down and slots home. Smoothly done.
Bernardo Silva’s shot finds a way past Emi Martinez as Man City open the scoring! 💥
📺 USA Network | #MCIAVL pic.twitter.com/5VHwXcHTmg
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) April 22, 2025
16 mins: Penalty to Aston Villa! There’s unquestionably contact, the question would be whether Ramsey had the ball under control. Dias gets a yellow card.
15 mins: Rashford, revelling in the boos, makes a dart towards the City area from the left. He looks to deposit the ball to Ramsey, who takes a tumble. No penalty, but hang on… referee Craig Pawson is going to the monitor.
12 mins: This City team is built for possession. It showed on the move leading up to the goal and Villa have barely had a kick since.
7 mins: GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!! Bernardo Silva!!!!
Lots of patient passing from City before Dias spins a ball out to Marmoush on the left. The Egypt forward provides an injection of pace and get the the byline to leave Villa scrambling. Silva meets the cutback with his weaker right foot and Martinez really should do better than patting the shot into his side-netting.
Bernardo Silva’s shot finds a way past Emi Martinez as Man City open the scoring! 💥
📺 USA Network | #MCIAVL pic.twitter.com/5VHwXcHTmg
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) April 22, 2025
5 mins: It’s been a bright start from Ramsey, who twice glides away from Kovacic challenges in quick succession. Villa’s ball-carrying prowess could be a real problem for City here. The hosts need a few bites to clear a low cross from the right but eventually do so.
2 mins: City respond by winning a left-wing corner. De Bruyne to take. It’s cleared easily enough before City get the ball back and De Bruyne cracks a left-footed cross beyond everyone.
1 min: RASHFORD HITS THE POST! Wow, almost the ideal start for Villa after just 20 seconds. Their on-loan Manchester United forward twists Dias this way and that and shoots left-footed against the base of Ortega’s left post.
Kickoff: 1st Half
Rashford, resoundingly popular in these parts, get us underway.
5 mins before kickoff: Here come the teams. A huge 90 minutes ahead.
20 mins before kickoff: You’d think a game of tonight’s magnitude would guarantee a raucous, packed house but that might not be the case. City fans remain in conflict with the club over its ticketing policy. The cheapest open sale adult seat for tonight’s match was an eye-watering £71. Some fan groups have protested outside the stadium, while plenty of other are expected to vote with their feet.
City fans protesting against ticket issues outside the Etihad once again. Cheapest matchday ticket for adults is £71 tonight #mcfc pic.twitter.com/i54xbMGswc
— Tyrone Marshall (@TyMarshall_MEN) April 22, 2025
40 mins before kickoff: If this game remains in the balance during the closing stages, there is certainly no shortage of game-changing talent on either bench. Phil Foden scored a hat-trick in this fixture last year, while Jeremy Doku was excellent when he came on at Goodison Park on Saturday. They’re both among the City substitutes alongside former Villa hero Jack Grealish.
Unai Emery has the enviable luxury of a fully fit squad, which means the likes of John McGinn, Donyell Malan, Marco Asensio and Ollie Watkins have all had to be content with a place among the replacements.
1 hour before kickoff: On-loan Manchester United man Marcus Rashford starts for Villa. He has six goals against City in Manchester derbies and would love to add to that tally tonight. It looks likely that Rashford will start at centre-forward, flanked by Jacob Ramsey and former City youngster Morgan Rogers. Amadou Onana, Boubacar Kamara and the in-form Youri Tielemans combine in a midfield three that, on paper, looks like it has the potential to run over City’s aging engine room.
Your Villa starting XI to face Man City 👊 #MCIAVL pic.twitter.com/TWpIN0SJcP
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) April 22, 2025
1 hr 10 mins before kickoff: The teams are in and, as he often has since the March international break, Pep Guardiola has packed his team with playmaking experience. Mateo Kovacic, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan all start, the latter two probably as dual false nines in Erling Haaland’s ongoing absence. James McAtee returns following his goalscoring outing in City’s previous home game against Aston Villa. The England U21 star and Omar Marmoush will be charged with getting in behind the Villa defence.
1 hr 40 mins before kickoff: It could not be tighter in the race for Champoins League qualification. Well, I guess it could: Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Aston Villa could all be level on points. In reality, they’re not far off. Forest returned to third place with a 2-1 win at Tottenham on Monday, moving on to 60 points. Seventh-placed Villa would go level with them if they manage to complete a first league double over City since 1962/63.
2 hours before kickoff. Hello and welcome to The Sporting News’ live coverage of Manchester City vs. Aston Villa in the Premier League, a game that could have huge ramifications for each team’s Champions League ambitions.
Man City vs. Aston Villa kick off time
This Premier League match kicks off in Manchester at 8 p.m. local time.
Here’s how that time translates across some of the major territories:
| Date | Kickoff time | |
| USA | Tue, Apr 22 | 3:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 p.m. PT |
| Canada | Tue, Apr 22 | 3:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 p.m. PT |
| UK | Tue, Apr 22 | 8:00 p.m. BST |
| Australia | Wed, Apr 23 | the 6:00 a.m. AEDT |
| India | Wed, Apr 23 | 1:30 a.m. IST |
Man City vs. Aston Villa lineups, team news
Pep Guardiola has tried this season to stick behind struggling Man City legends Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan, and it finally paid off against Everton as both played well in last weekend’s 2-0 win. Both experienced playmakers start alongside Kevin De Bruyne on his ongoing farewell lap, while Mateo Kovacic is rewarded with a start after his goal from the bench at Goodison Park.
James McAtee returns to the starting XI after a goalscoring outing in City’s previous home game against Crystal Palace. Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku are among the substitutes along with Jack Grealish against his boyhood club.
Defenders Nathan Ake and John Stones remain sidelined, while Ederson and Erling Haaland continue to recover from injuries that are likely to keep them out for the next few weeks, although Ederson is probably closer to returning than City’s prolific goal scorer.
Man City (4-2-4, right to left): Ortega (GK) — Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly — Kovacic, Silva — McAtee, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Marmoush.
Man City subs: Carson (GK), Grealish, Doku, Nico, Akanji, Savinho, Khusanov, Foden, Lewis.
Injured: Ederson (groin), Haaland (ankle), Ake (muscle), Stones (thigh), Rodri (ACL).
Suspended: None.
Aston Villa have a squad at full, 100% fitness for Unai Emery to pick from. For a club that made a Champions League quarterfinal run to have such a bill of health at this point in the season is truly remarkable.
Marcus Rashford has six career goals against City and starts at centre-forward, supported by Morgan Rogers and Jacob Ramsey. Marco Asensio, John McGinn, Donyell Malen and Ollie Watkins are all on a strong bench as Youri Tielemans, Boubacar Kamara, and Amadou Onana all start in an imposing midfield three.
Aston Villa (4-3-3, right to left): E. Martinez (GK) — Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne — Onana, Kamara, Tielemans — Ramsey, Rashford, Rogers.
Aston Villa subs: Olsen (GK), Disasi, Barkley, McGinn, Watkins, Garcia, Malen, Asensio, Maatsen.
Injured: None.
Suspended: None.
Man City vs. Aston Villa live stream, TV channel
Here’s how to watch this Premier League match across selected areas of the world’s major regions:
| TV channel | Streaming | |
| USA | USA Network, Universo | Fubo USA |
| Canada | — | Fubo Canada |
| UK | Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Premier League | Sky Go Extra |
| Australia | — | Optus Sport |
| India | — | JioCinema |
