Player ratings as Bailey equaliser punishes Cityzens

A second half equaliser from Aston Villa through Leon Bailey condemned Man City to a second successive draw away from home in the Premier League.

City ought to have taken the lead inside three minutes after a lovely move sent Kyle Walker in behind. The full-back had Erling Haaland in space for a tap-in at point-blank range, but the Englishman took the shot on himself before firing way over.

Kevin De Bruyne flashed a ferocious effort wide of Emiliano Martinez’s far post, before the Belgian turned architect to supply Ilkay Gundogan.

Delivering wide on the right, the midfielder whipped a delicious curling cross towards the German, but he failed to connect with the ball inside the six-yard box.

Villa were dogged in their defensive duties and they almost sprung a surprise on Pep Guardiola’s men on the counter-attack. Ashley Young did ever so well to dispossess De Bruyne before play was moved onto Douglas Luiz. The Brazilian threaded a pass through to Ollie Watkins whose deflected effort trickled inches wide of the far post.

However, City put their foot down immediately after the restart to break the deadlock. A sweeping move down the right saw De Bruyne float a pinpoint cross towards the far post and over the reach of Martinez, where Haaland lurked to cushion his finish into an empty net.

Villa engineered a decent opportunity find an immediate equaliser. Steven Gerrard’s men broke into space before Watkins freed Jacob Ramsey, but Ederson was quick off his line to smother the midfielder as he broke through one-on-one.

The excellent De Bruyne cracked the crossbar from a free-kick before he went close from inside the penalty area after a neat one-two with Haaland.

However, Villa found an equaliser out of nothing with a little over 15 minutes remaining to stun Guardiola’s men. Ramsey ghosted down the left before pulling the ball across goal for Leon Bailey to slam a cultured finish into the top corner.

Villa were unfortunate not to take the lead when Philippe Coutinho’s curling effort crashed off the underside of the bar and into the net, only for the linesman to have raised his flag earlier in the move. However, replays showed that the Brazilian hadn’t strayed offside in the build-up.

Rodri arrowed an effort inches wide from the edge of the area before Riyad Mahrez spurned a glorious opportunity on his weaker right side from a…