Cash on target as Villa hand Man City their first defeat since August

BIRMINGHAM, England :Manchester City suffered their first loss in 10 matches in all competitions as Matty Cash's first-half strike secured a 1-0 victory for Aston Villa on Sunday, the hosts' fourth straight win in the Premier League.

City's first loss since August left them six points behind leaders Arsenal after nine matches. Villa, unbeaten in their last six league games, are a point below City.

"We work a lot on set-pieces, over the last couple of years there have been a lot of set-pieces that have won us games and today is no different," Cash told the BBC after his second league goal of the season.

"The last month we've been really good. Defensively really good. We've just stuck together as a group. And at Villa Park they're always behind us."

Villa looked to find Ollie Watkins with long balls and counters early on, while Emiliano Buendia's shot went too high in the third minute. Tijjani Reijnders almost put City ahead in the sixth minute but the midfielder's shot went over the bar.

The hosts took the lead in the 19th minute from Buendia's corner, as Cash received the ball just outside the box and fired with his left foot into the bottom right corner past a helpless City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Norway international Erling Haaland ran through Villa's defensive line and nearly equalised two minutes later, but keeper Emiliano Martinez denied his attempt.

Villa kept up the pressure despite losing Buendia to a right-foot injury near the half-hour mark, with Watkins' header off Lucas Digne's corner being blocked and Morgan Rogers heading wide off John McGinn's cross 10 minutes later.

VILLA EDGE CITY

After the break, Villa's defence survived a chaotic moment near the hour mark as Savinho fired two shots on target, but his