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In the weekend’s final kick-off, Dean Smith’s Aston Villa welcomed the Premier League champions to Villa Park. After a shaky period in December, Manchester City have not lost a game since the turn of the year, winning four games on the bounce. As for Aston Villa, they already found themselves in the relegation zone even before the match started, owing to Watford beating Bournemouth earlier in the day.
Manchester City opened the scoring with two quickfire goals from Riyad Mahrez in the 18th and 24th minute. Four minutes after Mahrez's second goal, Sergio Aguero effortlessly added his first of the game. Gabriel Jesus would round off a rampant first half with a close-range effort in added time.
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Pep Guardiola’s men would start the second half the same way they ended the first, with Aguero getting his second of the game 12 minutes after the restart. The 31-year-old completed his hattrick in the 80th minute with another sublime finish. Villa would record a late consolation through a 90th minute El Ghazi penalty. This did nothing to dampen Manchester City’s utter domination at Villa Park, with the visitors walking away with 70% possession and 22 shots on goal.
Here are 3 reasons why Manchester City thrashed Aston Villa 6-1.
#3 Exceptional Firepower
In an extremely bold move, even for Pep Guardiola, Manchester City lined up with both Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus on the pitch. The South American duo’s movement were mesmeric at times, often leaving Villa’s defence completely clueless. Add to the mix the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva, and you were already fearing the worst for the Villans.
This was a masterful team performance as all the aforementioned players were directly involved in the goals. Aguero scored three and assisted one, Jesus scored one and assisted one, De Bruyne provided two assists, Mahrez scored two and provided two assists while the returning Silva also provided an assist. Such firepower was incredibly showcased despite the likes of Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva being on the bench.
#2 The Danny Drinkwater horror show
The on-loan Chelsea player made the switch from Burnley to Aston Villa last week. Throughout his time at Turf Moor, Drinkwater only played 149 minutes of football. The former Premier League winner’s time at Burnley will only be memorable for the controversy surrounding an incident he had at a nightclub in September. It must be noted that the 29-year-old has only made two league starts since March 2018. Despite his lack of match fitness, Dean Smith thrust him straight into the starting XI, at the team’s detriment.
In the first half, the midfielder’s lack of mobility and stamina had him constantly chasing shadows. When he wasn’t failing to catch City players, he was gifting them the ball. For the first goal, he was dribbled past like a training cone, for the second he gave the ball away in his own box and for the third he allowed De Bruyne to stroll past him on the edge of the box. Drinkwater’s performance embodied that of his teammates, utterly toothless.
#1 Sergio Aguero is in a class of his own
We’re starting to run out of superlatives to describe Sergio Aguero. After another sparkling performance from the Argentine, Aguero is now the highest-scoring foreign player in Premier League history, surpassing Thierry Henry's record of 175 goals. The hat-trick hero now has 177 Premier League goals, a tally only bettered by Wayne Rooney on the all-time list. If that wasn’t enough, Aguero now holds the record for the most Premier League hat-tricks, with 12.
The 31-year-old has marked his name in the history books and looks set to continue breaking and setting records in the coming years. His overall play including his goals was exceptional, as he attempted seven shots on goal, completed three dribbles, created two chances and of course, scored a hat-trick. In a few years time, will we be looking at the City striker as the best forward to ever touch English shores? I think so.
