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Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers, centre, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League football match against Manchester City, at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira).
Manchester City's stunning slump continued Saturday with a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa in the Premier League.
Goals from Jhon Duran and Morgan Rogers at Villa Park consigned the four-time defending champion to a ninth defeat in 12 games. Pep Guardiola's team has won just once during that run.
Phil Foden pulled a goal back for City in stoppage time, but it wasn’t enough to spark a late comeback.
City dropped to sixth in the standings — nine points below leader Liverpool, having played two games more.
Villa climbed to fifth.
City’s remarkable fall shows little sign of stopping, with Guardiola admitting last week that he had not been good enough to turn his team’s form around.
Defeat meant his once dominant team is without a win in any of its last eight away games in all competitions. While its title defense is unravelling, a place in the top four and Champions League qualification could also be in jeopardy.
A sixth league defeat is City's worst record since the 2020-21 season.
Villa dominated the game with Duran scoring his sixth goal in as many starts in the 16th minute from Rogers' assist.
Villa had a goal disallowed for offside in the second half and Rogers hit the post before doubling the home side's lead in the 65th.
Foden gave City a slim hope of salvaging something with his goal in the third minute of added time.
