Matt Maher analysis: Aston Villa with fresh case of the blues

Going to the blue half of Manchester was a near guaranteed headache for Villa long before Sheikh Mansour’s billions transformed the hosts from a national punchline into one of the world’s biggest football brands, says Express & Star chief sports writer Matt Maher.

Saturday’s defeat was their 10th in a row at City, while they have lost 17 of their last 19 league matches at either the Etihad Stadium or Maine Road. All told, Villa have been victorious just three times on City’s patch, in any competition, in the last 30 years.

Throw in the fact they had conceded at least four goals in five of their last six visits and this 3-0 reverse already ranks among the better recent efforts, even before you factor in the gulf between the clubs which Smith has only just begun working to bridge.

No, a relatively straightforward home win was what most neutrals expected before the match, particularly those bookmakers who priced a Villa victory as high as 35-1 to win a two-horse race.

In the end, a relatively straightforward home win was precisely what we got.

Yet, just like their other encounters with the Premier League’s big guns, Villa came away from the toughest test of their top flight return to date wondering what might have been.

Granted, the level of regret was nowhere the scale of that felt at Tottenham or Arsenal, where Smith’s men led in both matches heading into the closing stages.

There was no denying, however, the distinct level of cautious optimism which existed at half-time, after Villa had pulled off a more than passable mimic of Wolves’ patient performance here earlier in the month, frustrating City’s attacks and serving warning of their own attacking threat in a game which remained goalless.

On that occasion, of course, Nuno Espirito Santo’s men were able to maintain their levels, to the point where they were able to strike late on and snatch victory.

Instead, Villa’s plan went up in smoke barely seconds into the second half, Gabriel Jesus beating Tyrone Mings to an Ederson long kick and flicking a header into the path of Raheem Sterling, who fired a finish underneath Tom Heaton.

Though controversy would follow over VAR’s intervention – or non-intervention, to be more precise – in City’s second, the truth is any realistic hope Villa had of upsetting the odds and taking anything from the afternoon disappeared in that moment. No matter how the hosts netted their next two goals, there was already a feeling of inevitability about them.

Sterling’s goal was a particularly sloppy one to concede considering the disciplined display up until that point and a moment several members of Villa’s defence will look back at and grimace.

Among them will be Mings, who lost an aerial battle with Jesus despite the City man giving away several inches in height. It was a moment which typified a rather mixed afternoon for the England international, who displayed superb instincts to pull off two improbable goal-line clearances but also made some uncharacteristically basic mistakes.

Mings has, of course, been a revelation over the past nine months, but in many ways his display here summed up where Villa find themselves, now 10 matches into their Premier League return.

There is plenty to admire about their approach and their play. They don’t yet, however, have the consistency, quality

or just maybe, the belief to compile a complete performance against one of the very top teams.

For a newly-promoted side, that should really come as no surprise. But then Villa are an ambitious team with ambitious players, determined to take on the best. Saturday, in that regard, will have provided valuable experience.

In reality, for Villa to emerge victorious it would have required City to have an off-day, while the visitors would have needed to have been close to, if not at their best. Ultimately, neither happened.

The biggest positive to come from the second half was the manner in which Smith’s team kept going, particularly in the final 20 minutes when the cause was lost but the threat of a morale-sapping scoreline very much real.

Otherwise, there was a sense we didn’t learn a whole lot new about Villa from a fixture where making lasting judgements can be tricky. Much has been made of their £127million spending spree, yet that figure is only slightly more than the combined cost of City’s starting front three. To underline the point, the hosts also threw on Sergio Aguero when 3-0 up.

Attention now turns to Wednesday night’s visit of Wolves but first Jack Grealish, who left the Etihad on crutches after sustaining a calf injury late on.

Early indications were the problem is not too serious but Villa’s fanbase will remain on edge until an updated prognosis is delivered. Grealish, who was watched once more by Gareth Southgate, had performed solidly enough without being allowed to hit the levels of his previous week’s showing against Brighton.

Just like in that match - and what feels like every other Villa match this season - there was a moment of VAR controversy.

Yet even by Villa’s standards, this one was special. City’s second goal was claimed by David Silva, awarded to Kevin De Bruyne and then, around an hour after the final whistle, confirmed as Silva’s by the Premier League’s goal accreditation panel. The shame was that, by then, it was too late to rule it out for a clearly offside Sterling impeding the view of Villa keeper Heaton.

Most amusing was the goal accreditation panel publicly distancing themselves from VAR. No doubt that will be a tactic adopted by everyone else in authority before long.

Villa now move on to Wolves, where there will be no VAR but the expectations also much greater.