Manchester City ease to victory away at Aston Villa

Steven Gerrard's fine start to life as Aston Villa coach hit the immovable, ornate marble wall that is Manchester City, with the Sky Blues easing to a 2-1 away victory at Villa Park on Wednesday evening.

Hopes were high for Villa that Gerrard would set his team up with intensity for such a difficult fixture, especially after relegation rivals Norwich City and Newcastle United drew on Tuesday, yet they simply weren't allowed to play by a far superior side.

With Chelsea having dropped points to Manchester United at the weekend, City were looking to kickstart one of their characteristic runs of victories which usually takes the title race away from their adversaries.

It was Bernardo Silva's night though, as the Portuguese midfielder made a complete mockery of the decision to snub him from the final shortlist for the Ballon d'Or.

The former Monaco star controlled the game in much the way David Silva used to, yet his work off the ball is far more diligent.

It took the defending champions just 27 minutes to open the scoring, with central defender Ruben Dias smashing a powerful drive into the bottom corner of the net.

Such a pure strike from a defender is rare, but it summed up the complete nature of City's performances at the moment, even if Pep Guardiola continues to complain about an injury crisis which has left him with a lack of resources.

City then seemed to conserve energy, not overly pushing to create many chances, but controlling the match all the same.

Gabriel Jesus had a penalty appeal turned down, yet it was Silva who would add the finishing touch to a near-perfect first half in added time.

A fine long pass saw the Portuguese midfielder break through on goal before smashing a left-footed strike into the roof of the net, which no goalkeeper could have stopped.

Gerrard's half-time words did, though, give his charges a momentary lift with Ollie Watkins pulling a goal back immediately after the restart.

A well-taken corner found Watkins inside the penalty area and the English forward turned and shot towards the goal smartly, sending the ball beyond Ederson.

Momentum was there for Villa after that point, and they had a penalty shout turned down after Ezri Konsa was felled inside the City box, and then the champions regained control.

Villa would have one more chance to rescue a point through Carney Chukwuemeka, but Ederson made a fine save from his low shot.

Victory keeps City ticking over, whilst not ever really having to be in full gear, whilst Gerrard will perhaps look to upcoming more winnable fixtures as benchmarks for progress.

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