Aston Villa defeated crisis-hit Man City 2-1 on Saturday, heaping more misery on struggling manager Pep Guardiola, who has now lost nine of his last 12 games.
Jhon Duran completed a beautiful team play to give the home side an early lead, and Morgan Rogers extended Villa’s lead in the 65th minute.
Phil Foden scored his first Premier League goal of the season in stoppage time, but it came too late.
Pep Guardiola, who is having the worst season of his sparkling career, insisted on Friday that “sooner or later” things would improve, but Man City’s fear factor has evaporated.
The victory propels Unai Emery’s erratic Villa squad to fifth position in the Premier League rankings, one place above struggling City.
Guardiola made six changes to the lineup that lost last week’s Manchester derby, adding goalkeeper Stefan Ortega and remaking his defence with Rico Lewis, John Stones, and Manuel Akanji.
Mateo Kovacic and Jack Grealish have also returned. However, the reigning champions opened the match in a haphazard manner and could have fallen behind before 20 seconds.
Untidy work by Josko Gvardiol allowed John McGinn to take the ball and feed Duran, whose shot from outside the box was put aside by Ortega.
Villa was millimetres away from taking the lead from the subsequent corner, but Ortega, in for first-choice custodian Ederson, made an outstanding stop to deny Pau Torres.
Man City then stabilised, and their possession statistics surpassed 75%, but they produced little.
Instead, Villa seized the lead following a brilliant team move, with Duran scoring his eighth Premier League goal of the season.
Youri Tielemans sent a fantastic defence-splitting ball to Rogers, who breezed through City’s backline before finding Duran on his right, where the Colombian international finished crisply.
Phil Foden challenged Villa custodian Emiliano Martinez in the 35th minute following a clever play including Lewis. And Gvardiol missed a golden opportunity minutes before halftime, heading over a Grealish cross.
Guardiola substituted Kyle Walker for Stones after the break. Minutes into the second half, Villa’s Matty Cash fired into the side netting following a quick attack, before Duran’s shot was called offside.
Rogers hit the post shortly before the hour mark following a complex team play down the left.
Emery’s side extended their lead 20 minutes into the second half, with Rogers scoring flawlessly off a McGinn feed.
Man City generated nothing as they tried to get back into the game until Foden scored a late consolation goal.
