Talking points: Nicolas Jackson brace in statement win for Aston Villa
The key talking points from Villa’s 2-1 victory against Manchester City.
Nicolas Jackson scored a brace to help lead Aston Villa to a memorable 2-1 success over Premier League leaders Manchester City at Villa Park.
Erling Haaland cancelled out Jackson’s sixth-minute opener just seven minutes into the second half, but Jackson restored the Villans’ leader with the winner just past the hour-mark.
That extended Villa’s unbeaten run to seven games in all competitions and ended City’s 100 per cent start in the Premier League.
Here are the key talking points from the victory.
Jackson bags match-winning brace
The signing of Jackson is looking more and more like a stroke of genius with each passing game.
His reunion with Unai Emery has unlocked his potential on the Premier League stage and his two goals only consolidated an excellent start to life at Villa Park.
He extended his season tally to seven in all competitions - including six in as many games - to propel Villa to their fourth win in a row.
A statement win
This was always going to be a big test of Villa’s credentials, after their remarkable turnaround in recent weeks.
After a slow start, Villa are now unbeaten in seven games and ended Man City’s 100 per cent start in the Premier League in the process.
There was always going to be a transition period considering the magnitude of the rebuild during the summer, but Villa have well and truly hit their stride.
Four years of Unai
It was another one of many special afternoons under Emery, who celebrated his fourth anniversary in the Villa dugout.
The Villa boss said he would “not be celebrating” the milestone pre-match, but he had plenty of reason to do so at full-time.
Manzambi-McGinn tweak
Johan Manzambi recovered from his knock last weekend to start for Villa, but Emery deployed him on the left, rather than as the No 10.
Instead, Villa skipper McGinn took up a central role and duly seized on a loose touch from Marc Guehi to set-up the opener for Jackson after just six minutes.
The combination play between McGinn and Jackson was a real feature of the Villans’ play, particularly on the counter-attack.
Suzuki shines (again)
While Jackson shone at one end, Zion Suzuki excelled at the other with a series of important saves.
He denied Iliman Ndiaye during the opening exchanges and plunged to his left to keep out Rayan Cherki from close-range with a superb reflex save.
The Japanese international then produced another fine finger tip stop to lift Josko Gvardiol’s effort on to the crossbar in the second half.
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