MAN CITY 4, ASTON VILLA 0
Manchester City ended a run of three successive Premier League defeats with an emphatic victory against bottom-club Aston Villa.
After a goalless opening period, City turned on the style in the second half to overwhelm their opponents and prove they are still in the title race.
Sergio Aguero scored twice – he even missed a penalty – while Yaya Toure and Raheem Sterling also found the net.
And the stats showed City’s supremacy – 71-per-cent possession, 22 goal attempts with nine on target. Villa, by contrast, managed two with one forcing a save from Joe Hart.
City are also back as the Premier League’s top scorers with 52 goals as they are only two points behind faltering Arsenal having played one game less.
Manager Manuel Pellegrini believes his side in well placed and well equipped to fight for the title.
He said: “This season is different to the first time I won the title as we always had three games in hand and our fate was always in our own hands.
“This time we need Leicester and Tottenham to drop points. If we win our game in hand, we are one point above Arsenal.
“We will play every game as a final. We are in the title race and the margin of error is small, but our team has experience.”
Pellegrini was also please to see his side score four goals saying they always try to be the Premier League’s leading scorers.
He added it was difficult against Villa saying: “Villa had nine players behind the ball and gave us a lot of trouble and we had to be patient. We played well in the first half and created chances.”
City made three changes from the side that lost 3-0 at Liverpool in midweek.
Yaya Toure, Wilfried Bony and Bacary Sagna were back in the starting line up at the expense of Sterling, Fernando Reges and Pablo Zabaleta.
After a slow start, City gradually cranked up the pressure and Villa lived dangerously at the back.
Villa keeper Brad Guzan pulled off two fabulous saves, each time to deny Sergio Aguero, while Bony sliced a shot wide from in front of goal as he latched on to Clichy’s cross.
Aguero had a third chance of the game inside the opening 25 minutes, but this time fired narrowly wide.
Yet Villa almost snatched the lead with their first goal attempt when Jordan Ayew was denied by a super save from Joe Hart.
It was proving a frustrating afternoon for City as they were struggling to find a way through Villa’s massed defensive ranks in what was effectively s 5-4-1 formation.
The deadlock was broken three minutes after the restart after a fine move as Aguero cut the ball back to David Silva who squared the ball to Toure who swept home a low shot from 13 yards for his eighth goal of the season.
It was akin for waiting for a bus as a second goal came less than two minutes later. Bony split the Villa defence open with a great through ball. Former City defender Micah Richards, sliding in, hit the ball against Aguero and it looped into the empty net.
That was Aguero’s fifth goal on his last four games against Villa and his 20th of the season.
City were 3-0 ahead inside an hour after Aguero played a delightful return pass with Silva, chesting down the ball before firing a shot low inside Guzan’s near post.
Sterling replaced Bony just after the hour and within one minute fired in a shot that Guzan had to turn over the crossbar.
City added a fourth goal in the 66th minute when a cross from Jesus Navas was slotted home by Sterling from six yards, his 11th goal of the campaign for City.
Silva was replaced by Kelechi Iheanacho with 20 minutes left as Pellegrini took off one of his key players.
City ought to have added a fifth goal when Iheanacho was tripped by Ciaran Clark but Aguerom seeking to complete a hat trick, fired against the upright low to the left of Guzan.
Pellegrini made his last change with 10 minutes left when Toure was replaced by youngster Manu Garcia who was making his Premier League debut.