Man City player written off after six months is now too important to do without

Manchester City were beaten 1-0 by Aston Villa in the Premier League as their encouraging run of form came to an abrupt halt.

Manchester City's nine-game unbeaten run came to an end at Villa Park as a below-par performance saw Aston Villa claim a 1-0 victory.

City had started brightly but had begun to come under pressure before Matty Cash's fine strike from the edge of the box. The Blues were slow to react to a corner routine and Cash had time to bring the ball down before firing in a left-footed half-volley.

Erling Haaland had City's best chances to level but neither was clear cut and Pep Guardiola's side never really looked like forcing their way back into the game.

Missing Gonzalez

Guardiola namechecked three players who could play the holding role for City before the season began, but then picked none of them at Villa Park.

Rodri remains sidelined with a hamstring problem and neither Nico Gonzalez or Mateo Kovacic were deemed fit enough to start the game, leaving Tijjani Reijnders to play the deepest role in midfield.

That is a position he can play, but the Dutchman is better given licence to get forward. It is a surprise he hasn't scored since the opening day of the season given the chances he has had and he had another shot early on at Villa Park.

But it was the defensive side of his game that was going to be tested and it felt like a weak spot for City. Villa quickly managed to start picking holes in the middle and found space around Reijnders to exploit.

They put together several attacks through the middle of the pitch as the pressure built for the first goal and it was a reminder of how much City not only miss Rodri, but on this occasion were also missing his deputies.

Gonzalez eventually came on early in the second half, having been unable to start because of the foot injury he picked up in midweek. By then the damage had been done, but it does say something for the turnaround for Gonzalez at the Etihad that he was badly missed here.

Doku rotation

It felt like Jeremy Doku was in the form of his life not long ago, but the City winger has had his stride checked by rotation recently and it was a surprise to see him benched at Villa Park.

Oscar Bobb came in for Doku and while Savinho had to keep his place after his performance in Spain, it feels like not enough is being made of Doku's form, especially when Bobb continues to flatter to deceive.

City were stuttering in attack in the first half and it felt like they were missing the kind of direct and unpredictable threat that Doku can bring to the final third.

Title aims

Guardiola has been keeping his counsel about City's chances of winning the league this season and after this performance you can see why. He has felt that his team have struggled to put together 90 minute performances and there were very few positives to take away from Villa Park.

It felt like an opportunity for the Blues, given the mess Liverpool continue to find themselves in, but they couldn't take advantage, and with Arsenal winning it only strengthens the Gunners claims to be strong title favourites this season.

This is still a new City team taking shape and days like this are to be expected, but it is a reminder that they have done well to get back on track over the last couple of months.

Bobb's form

Part of the surprise of Doku not starting is that Bobb is also struggling for form at the moment. He started the season brightly but has gone off the boil of late and is finding it difficult to contribute in the final third.

Too often the Norwegian is overcomplicating matters or taking too long to make a decision and finding himself dispossessed or sent down dead ends.

He is still struggling to find rhythm after last season turned into a write-off and he needs games to get that back, but the fact he's finding it difficult to influence games at the moment shows that it's a catch-22 situation for Guardiola.