​Aston Villa 2-1 Manchester City: Jackson double ends Maresca's winning start

Nicolas Jackson punished two sloppy errors as Manchester City's winning start to the Premier League season was halted in a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa.

Jackson scored in either half at Villa Park, aided by a dismal touch from Marc Guehi for his sixth-minute opener and some weak goalkeeping from Gianluigi Donnarumma for his second goal on the hour.

Erling Haaland briefly got City level at the start of the second half, but Enzo Maresca's side were unable to respond after falling behind for a second time, as they failed to become only the third team to start a Premier League campaign with eight straight victories.  

It did not take long for the suspect defending that has plagued City this season to rear its head, as a dreadful individual error from Guehi led to Villa's breakthrough. 

Guehi was under no pressure as he looked to bring down a chipped pass from Ruben Dias, but he knocked the ball off his standing leg and into the path of John McGinn, who immediately released Jackson.

The Senegal international still had plenty to do, but he skipped inside Elliot Anderson then lashed into the roof of the net from close range. 

Jackson dragged another effort wide, but it was City who spent much of the first half pushing for a goal. Zion Suzuki did brilliantly to tip Iliman Ndiaye's curler around the post and was later fortunate to see a near-identical effort from the same player strike the upright.

Between those close calls, Suzuki held Rayan Cherki's shot under pressure from Haaland, while Abdukodir Khusanov also called Villa's goalkeeper into action.

City's 29 touches in the Villa area during the first half were the most by any team in the first 45 minutes of a Premier League game this season, and their pressure finally told in the 52nd minute, as Ndiaye's hanging cross from the right was nodded home by Haaland. 

The visitors had a glorious chance to go 2-1 up when Josko Gvardiol's shot was pushed onto the crossbar by Suzuki, but Villa then struck at the other end, with another error costing City. 

Jackson's clever pass released Ibrahim Mbaye down the right flank, and when the substitute supplied a return ball into the middle, the shot from Villa's striker was straight at Donnarumma. However, the Italian went down awkwardly and let it squirm beneath him.

City were restricted to half-chances from then on, with Suzuki smothering the ball at Gvardiol's feet and Ian Maatsen clearing a Haaland header off his line, as Unai Emery's men clung on for another statement win.

Villa rise to the occasion again

Villa always seem to relish these fixtures at Villa Park, and they are now unbeaten in their last four home games against teams starting the day top of the Premier League table.

Prior to Saturday's victory, they also beat Arsenal 1-0 in December 2023 and 2-1 in December 2025, either side of a 2-2 draw with Liverpool in February 2025.

And City only had themselves to blame, with both goals being the direct result of lapses in concentration at the back.

Since the start of last season, Jan Paul van Hecke (four) is the only outfielder to make more errors leading to goals in the Premier League than Guehi (three), and the centre-back was hooked at half-time by Maresca, who sent on Rico Lewis in his place.

Donnarumma's error, meanwhile, was his third leading directly to a goal in the Premier League since he joined City last season. The only goalkeepers to commit more in that time are Bart Verbruggen (five) and Robin Roefs (four).

And it was Jackson who profited, becoming the first Villa player to score a Premier League brace against the league leaders since Andreas Weimann against Manchester United in November 2012.

Jackson has seven goals in all competitions this term, with Haaland (13) the only Premier League player to outscore him.