Duran and Rogers Shine as Aston Villa Stun Struggling Manchester City

BIRMINGHAM, England, Dec 21 (MilkyStory) – Aston Villa dealt another blow to Manchester City on Saturday, claiming a 2-1 Premier League victory thanks to goals from Colombian forward Jhon Duran and former City player Morgan Rogers.

The win propelled Villa into fifth place in the table, while the reigning champions continued their slump, dropping to sixth provisionally after suffering their ninth defeat in 12 matches across all competitions. With just one win in that dismal stretch, Pep Guardiola’s side could slide as low as ninth by the weekend's end.

Guardiola, however, remains hopeful. “It can come, it can not come,” he told the BBC. “It depends on us. The solution is to bring the players back (from injuries). We have just one central defender fit, that is difficult. We are going to try next game—another opportunity—and we don’t think much further than that.”

The match began with an electric pace. Villa nearly scored in the opening 20 seconds when Duran capitalized on a misplaced pass by Josko Gvardiol, but his effort was brilliantly saved by Stefan Ortega. Ortega continued to shine moments later, tipping Pau Torres’ shot off the crossbar after a corner.

Villa’s breakthrough came in the 16th minute. Youri Tielemans delivered a perfectly weighted through ball to Rogers, who selflessly set up Duran to slot home. The 21-year-old Colombian, starting his third consecutive league match, continued his red-hot form by scoring in his third straight game. He even had a goal disallowed for offside later in the match.

“We are working with the players, keeping their consistency of playing,” Villa manager Unai Emery told TNT. “Jhon Duran played fantastic today, Watkins is fantastic as well. They are very important for us. Sometimes they play together, and I’m very happy with them.”

Villa doubled their lead in the 65th minute when Rogers latched onto a John McGinn pass and finished with a clinical low strike. The goal sent Villa Park into raptures, while Guardiola looked on in frustration.

“It’s like a beast, really,” Rogers said of facing City. “We knew they hadn’t had the results they wanted, and they’d come out firing. We stuck to our game plan, showed our quality, and to a man, I thought we were outstanding.”

City managed a consolation goal in stoppage time when Phil Foden capitalized on a Lucas Digne error to net his first league goal of the season. Foden had earlier forced a sharp save from Villa’s World Cup-winning goalkeeper Emi Martinez, but it wasn’t enough to rescue his side.

“We are disappointed, it’s not good enough,” City striker Erling Haaland admitted to TNT. “It’s not good enough from me.”

With Villa soaring and City floundering, the title holders now face mounting pressure to turn their season around.