Aston Villa beat Manchester City 2-1 as Nicolas Jackson scores twice, ending City's perfect start

Early goal and Guehi's error

Nicolas Jackson opened the scoring in the sixth minute at Villa Park, punishing a mistake by Marc Guehi and firing into the roof of the net past Gianluigi Donnarumma. City had enjoyed 92 per cent of the possession in the opening five minutes, but the hosts struck first and the early spell rattled the visitors. Guehi was booked in a difficult first half and was taken off at half-time, when Enzo Maresca also brought on Rayan Cherki's replacement Rico Lewis in a double change that saw Phil Foden return from the bench. Foden had been left out despite scoring a Champions League hat-trick in midweek.

Haaland's reply and Jackson's second

Erling Haaland headed in Iliman Ndiaye's cross shortly after the restart, his goal in a seventh consecutive Premier League game, and gave City hope of a comeback. Jackson struck again soon afterwards, driving a shot from a low cross by Villa substitute Ibrahim Mbaye that went under the body of Donnarumma. Commentary on the match described City's defence as offering little resistance to that goal, which was Villa's only real chance of the second half. Jackson, who joined from Chelsea in the club's summer rebuild, has now scored four goals in his last four Premier League appearances for Villa.

Table, form and the financial ruling

City remain top of the table, three points clear of Arsenal, while Villa moved up to sixth. Arsenal could draw level on points with City after eight games if they beat Everton at the Emirates on Saturday afternoon. Villa had failed to win any of their first four Premier League games but have since won three of their last four league matches. City were playing their second Premier League away game since being found guilty in September 2026 of almost all of the league's charges on breaches of financial rules, and the club have appealed the independent commission's decision. Villa supporters sang that City were going down whenever a visiting player made an unforced error, and chants accusing City of cheating rang out through the match.