Aston Villa 2-1 Man City: Jackson double ends City's perfect start and lets Arsenal draw level

Manchester City's perfect start is over. Nicolas Jackson scored twice as Aston Villa won 2-1 at Villa Park on Saturday lunchtime, handing Enzo Maresca a first Premier League defeat after seven straight wins and, by teatime, a title race with company in it.

The timing could hardly have been better for Unai Emery. The win came on the fourth anniversary of his appointment, according to BBC Sport, and it was Villa's fifth victory in their last seven meetings with City and a fourth in a row against them at Villa Park.

Two mistakes, two finishes

City were sloppy from the start, and they paid for it inside six minutes. Marc Guéhi failed to control a lofted pass around 30 yards from his own goal, John McGinn pounced and Jackson turned inside Elliot Anderson before lashing the ball high past Gianluigi Donnarumma.

For long spells after that it was one-way traffic. Iliman Ndiaye hit the post, and Zion Suzuki saved from Ndiaye, Rayan Cherki and Abdukodir Khusanov before the break. Guéhi, booked on 32 minutes for pulling Jackson down on the edge of the box, did not come out for the second half.

The equaliser arrived on 52 minutes, when Ndiaye got the better of Ian Maatsen and Erling Haaland climbed highest to head in his cross. It was his 13th goal of the season and the seventh Premier League game in a row in which he has scored, his joint-longest run in the competition, per Opta figures carried by The Guardian.

Parity lasted eight minutes. Suzuki turned a Josko Gvardiol drive onto the bar, and soon after Jackson released substitute Ibrahim Mbaye, on for barely a minute, before meeting his low cross. The first-time shot went under Donnarumma's left hand. Haaland had one more header late on, but Maatsen cleared it off the line.

The numbers tell you how City felt about it. They had 63.9% of the ball, 15 shots to Villa's eight and seven on target to two, according to the BBC's match stats. Villa scored with both of theirs.

Maresca "deserved more", Emery hails his No 9

"I think we deserved more from the game, for the amount of chances that we created and for the chances that we conceded," Maresca said, as reported by The Guardian. "We lost because probably we have not been clinical enough in their box."

He refused to hang the defeat on Guéhi, whose errors also gifted Ipswich two goals last weekend. "No, I'm not worried about Marc at all," he said, explaining that the half-time change was partly down to the yellow card. Maresca added, in comments carried by Goal, that he wanted "midfielders with technical skills" in the side, which is why Ayoub Bouaddi stayed on the bench.

Emery, for his part, was as interested in Jackson's work rate as his goals. "Now, he's getting better at shooting. He's working fantastically tactically, he's understanding as well where we need him," he said. The striker, signed from Chelsea in the summer, now has seven goals in 11 games for Villa, and there was a certain edge to doing this against his old Stamford Bridge manager.

"A fantastic day to share with our supporters in Villa Park," Emery told reporters, as quoted by AFP via Channels Television. "We felt that this is our fortress."

It was, oddly, Villa's first home league win of the season. Four of their summer arrivals started, and six of the side that started last season's Europa League final have gone, AFP notes, which makes a run of six wins in seven in all competitions all the more striking. Villa climb to sixth on 11 points.

A record missed, and Arsenal level

City were chasing more than three points. A win would have made them the eighth side to open an English top-flight season with eight straight victories and set a new club record that has stood since 1897-98, the BBC points out. Maresca had already become the first manager to win his first seven Premier League games in charge of a new club, according to AFP.

Instead, Mikel Arteta's champions took the invitation. Arsenal beat Everton 2-0 at the Emirates later in the afternoon, through Ezri Konsa and Gabriel, to draw level with City on 21 points, as Sky Sports reports. Only goal difference keeps City top.

Some of the worry for Maresca is at the back. According to Opta figures in The Guardian, City conceded eight goals in their first nine games of the season in all competitions and nine in their last four. Brighton, third in the table, now visit the Etihad twice in four days: in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, 28 October, and then in the league three days later.