Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery has claimed that his side decided to defeat Manchester City "through domination" on Saturday afternoon.
Heading into the Premier League contest at Villa Park, Emery had only ever won once in 15 matches against Pep Guardiola, which was last season's corresponding fixture 12 months ago.
However, Emery's side made a mockery of that statistic as they thoroughly outclassed a City side lacking energy and belief, even if they only prevailed by a 2-1 scoreline.
Jhon Duran and Morgan Rogers scored either side of half time with Phil Foden's effort in the 93rd minute ultimately proving to be no more than a consolation.
Villa have now moved one point ahead of City in the Premier League table, the teams currently fifth and sixth respectively ahead of the remaining games across the weekend.
© Imago
Emery waxes lyrical over Villa performance
Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, Guardiola was adamant that City had "made a really good game", something that Emery did not dispute with regards to the first half.
Nevertheless, Emery has stated that his side were deserving of the three points, claiming that Villa chose "to win through domination of them".
The Spaniard told BBC Sport: "We played 90 minutes in the way we were expecting. They were imposing and dominant in the first half, more than we wanted.
"Then in the second half we dominated more, avoiding their press, I think we played better. The second half we were playing with confidence, we imposed and we decided to win through domination of them."
He added to TNT Sports: "Always we are trying to be positive, in some matches we are maybe not performing as we want, but today we perform.
"We are feeling strong, here we played the first half very well, in the second half we kept possession more and getting in the box to score the second goal, we imposed and dominated more."
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) December 21, 2024
What next for Villa?
Next up for Villa is a trip to the North-East to face Newcastle United at St James' Park before they play host to Brighton & Hove Albion four days later.
Further home matches against Leicester City and West Ham United, in the FA Cup, are to follow that double-header.
Darren Plant
