A seven-minute Gabriel Agbonlahor hat-trick helped Aston Villa beat Manchester City 4-2 on Sunday.
Six second-half goals in Villa Park thriller
A seven-minute Gabriel Agbonlahor hat-trick helped Aston Villa beat Manchester City 4-2 in their opening game of the Premier League season.
The first-half was entertaining but ended goal-less before John Carew broke the deadlock two minutes after the restart with a simple header from an Ashley Young cross.
But City levelled on 64 minutes through Elano from the penalty spot after Luke Young was adjudged to have fouled Michael Johnson in the box.
But Villa took all three points thanks to a fantastic hat-trick from Agbonlahor, with goals in the 69th, 74th and 76th minutes before Vedran Corluka netted a late consolation for City.
Bojinov blow
Little went right for City after they suffered a pre-match setback when striker Valeri Bojinov was injured in the warm-up and he was replaced by 19-year-old Ched Evans with Felipe Caicedo being drafted in as a substitute.
It had been scheduled to be Bojinov's first competitive game after a year out with a knee injury he sustained against Manchester United and he appeared on the touch-line at the start of the second period with his right leg in plaster.
Later, it was announced the player had snapped an Achilles tendon and is expected to be unavailable for months.
Villa made a promising start with Carew causing plenty of problems in the air - and the Norway international twice went close to breaking the deadlock.
Carew was first to react to a corner from Ashley Young but his glancing header flew just past the far post. Then the Villa striker got on the end of another corner - this time by Gareth Barry - and forced Joe Hart to save away to his right.
Michael Johnson blocked a close-range drive from Ashley Young and Carew's first-time low drive had Hart sprawling across his goal to collect.
City threatened for the first time when Kelvin Etuhu went past Nicky Shorey on the outside before firing a low attempt across the face of Brad Friedel's goal with no-one able to apply a finishing touch.
But then want-away midfielder Barry squandered a good opportunity for Villa after 26 minutes.
Nigel Reo-Coker burst down the right flank and his powerful cross was only parried by Hart into the path of Barry but from eight yards out he hooked the ball wide.
Brad Friedel had to make his first save of note after 30 minutes when he got his body behind Martin Petrov's low drive after good play by Gelson Fernandes set up the opportunity.
City defender Tal Ben Haim became the first player to receive a yellow card after 33 minutes for a late challenge on Barry who needed treatment but was able to continue.
Deadlock broken
Villa needed only two minutes of the second period to break the deadlock through Carew - last season's top marksman with 13 goals.
Barry found Ashley Young in space on the left flank and the winger sent over the kind of pinpoint cross which Carew thrives on as he sent a powerful header past Hart from six-yards out.
City tried to respond instantly and Luke Young did well to block a powerful drive from 15-yards out by Elano.
Friedel finger-tipped a low cross shot from Garrido around the post and Martin Petrov volleyed into the side netting.
But it needed a mix-up between Luke Young and Shorey to present City with an equaliser after 63 minutes.
There appeared to be little danger but the two full-backs hesitated and let in Michael Johnson who was eventually brought down by Luke Young in the box.
Referee Phil Dowd immediately pointed to the penalty spot and Elano sent Friedel the wrong way from the spot.
But Villa needed only five minutes to regain the lead through Agbonlahor.
An Ashley Young corner was turned back across goal by Curtis Davies to Agbonlahor who beat Hart with a right-foot volley and within five minutes Agbonlahor had struck again to double Villa's lead.
Ashley Young picked out the overlapping Barry and his cross was headed home by the England Under-21 player.
Then in the 76th minute Agbonlahor completed his first senior hat-trick when he raced onto a Barry through-ball and clipped the ball past Hart.
Corluka scored an 89th minute consolation goal for City but they were well beaten by the final whistle.
| Aston Villa |
Team Statistics |
Manchester City |
| 4 |
Goals |
2 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 7 |
Shots on Target |
8 |
| 5 |
Shots off Target |
5 |
| 4 |
Blocked Shots |
6 |
| 7 |
Corners |
8 |
| 11 |
Fouls |
14 |
| 3 |
Offsides |
0 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 74 |
Passing Success |
80.7 |
| 19 |
Tackles |
27 |
| 84.2 |
Tackles Success |
88.9 |
| 41.7 |
Possession |
58.3 |
| 43 |
Territorial Advantage |
57 |
|
