Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has insisted that there is no crisis at Etihad even after failing to win in four league matches. City had the lowest number of shots ever out of a top-tier Pep Guardiola side ever in their 1-0 loss at Aston Villa.
City’s two shots is the most paltry of any Guardiola side, while the 22 efforts they faced is the most one of his teams has faced.
Leon Bailey’s deflected strike was enough to separate the sides as Villa leapfrogged City on Wednesday night with an extraordinary performance.
The statistics behind City’s defeat, which saw them slip to fourth in the Premier League, lay bare just how well Unai Emery has drilled his Midlands project.
Guardiola has overseen City, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich, but only at Barcelona B has one of his teams attempted fewer attempts on goal.
Guardiola has led City through 281 league games but against Villa they recorded their 23rd-lowest possession figure (53.9 per cent), according to Stats Perform.
They also produced their 25th-lowest number of successful passes – 454.
That’s a far cry from their record-breaking performances in the past – against Swansea in 2018, they completed a staggering 942 passes.
All of this is a huge compliment to Aston Villa, who have now won 14 Premier League home games on the bounce.
Villa sit third in the league and are also third in the table for the calendar year, picking up eight points fewer than City in 2023 and two fewer than Arsenal.