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Aston Villa unable to halt slick Man City - match analysis

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Patience is a virtue and, just like Manchester City, Villa must persevere.

It is a different scenario of course, but the sentiment remains.

City only had to wait 64 minutes before the breakthrough which moved them closer to the Premier League title, a crown they will win on Sunday if they draw with West Ham.

Villa will have to hold out longer if they are going to be revived. It will seem like a lifetime – and it has for the fans – but endure they must.

Last night's 4-0 defeat at the Etihad was another painful reminder of the gap between Villa and the top teams.

And it was a reminder how they must stand tall if the club is going to transform over the summer.

The claret and blues have fallen and need to rebuild if, as expected, chairman Randy Lerner confirms his desire to sell in the coming weeks.

Lerner will have watched the game on a TV feed but with his interest waning you can imagine him accepting the result with a resigned shrug.

It has been a season to forget with one game left but the club could start the next with renewed optimism should new owners arrive.

City eventually brushed them aside on an evening with a cup-game feel, a lower league opposition against a superior Premier League side. And Villa cannot escape that they lined up for damage limitation.

That in itself will not be good enough for fans who demand and expect better than to scrap away in the top flight.

They have survived but safety is not something which should be celebrated. It is the bare minimum a club with Villa's stature should achieve.

Last night, though, wasn't expected to be their night and, had Villa lost 1-0, they would have been praised for their defensive display, a battling, brave, effort which almost spoiled City's party.

But the hosts' quality told, although they were made to work for it after Villa's organised and battle-hardened first half.

City lacked composure and cohesion and their patient approach grated on an expectant crowd who had arrived to see a procession.

Villa's massed ranks worked hard to deny them space and time during a one-sided first half where City pinned their visitors back.

But there was little ingenuity to match City's precise build-up as they were short of ideas in the final third.

In the main that was down to Villa as Ron Vlaar, Nathan Baker and Ciaran Clark built a wall of resistance.

They were seriously breached twice but Brad Guzan denied Yaya Toure early on and Samir Nasri volleyed wide from close range in stoppage time.

It was textbook 'contain and frustrate' with full-backs Pablo Zabaleta and Aleksandar Kolarov the hosts' best attacking outlets.

The Etihad was nervous as Villa – without the injured Gabby Agbonlahor and Marc Albrighton – grew into their role of party-poopers and Guzan claimed Vincent Kompany's overhead kick and turned away Kolarov's free-kick after the break.

City were one-paced but finally broke Villa's dogged resistance on 64 minutes.

Zabaleta had caused the visitors the most problems and another run and cross was turned in by Edin Dzeko from close range.

It opened the floodgates as Dzeko bagged another eight minutes later after Guzan saved from Nasri.

Weimann hit the bar with eight minutes left but it was just a momentary lapse.

Stevan Jovetic made it 3-0 before Toure's lung-bursting 50-yard run left Villa trailing before he smashed past Guzan in stoppage time – the hosts' 100th league goal this season.

For City, good things come to those who wait. But the waiting is painful for Villa.