Unai Emery: Aston Villa 'getting closer' to the levels expected after Man City victory

Unai Emery says Aston Villa are “getting closer” to the levels set in recent seasons, after they beat Premier League leaders Manchester City 2-1 at Villa Park.

Nicolas Jackson opened the scoring after just six minutes when John McGinn seized on a loose touch from City defender Marc Guehi to tee up the Villa striker to score from a tight angle.

Iliman Ndiaye and Josko Gvardiol hit the woodwork for City, who equalised seven minutes into the second half when Erling Haaland towered above Victor Lindelof to head in.

But substitute Ibrahim Mbaye marked his introduction with an excellent assist for Jackson to double his tally and restore the Villans’ lead.

That saw City’s 100 per cent start in the Premier League come to an end, as Villa extended their unbeaten run to seven games in all competitions with a fourth successive win.

“We were very motivated and we were excited by how we were responding to the watch at the highest level of football,” boss Emery explained.

“Manchester City is the best team in the league until now and are one of the best teams in the world.

“This is the level that we were more or less facing last year and we’re getting the levels close with those things.

“We started so poorly this year, we needed time to better understand how we need to improve tactically, individually, and try to get confidence.

“So today, this test was very good and we responded. The players showed us the capacity to recover the level that we have had in the last years.

“We have 11 points. It’s not enough, but we have a much better feeling.”