LONDON: Crisis-hit Manchester City slumped to an unthinkable ninth defeat in 12 matches at Aston Villa on Saturday as Nottingham Forest stormed Brentford’s fortress to climb to third in the Premier League table.

Alexander Isak scored his first hat-trick in the English top flight as Newcastle United ran riot at Ipswich Town while West Ham United and Brighton & Hove Albion shared the spoils at the London Stadium.

City boss Pep Guardiola — in the worst spell of his managerial career — made multiple changes following last week’s painful derby defeat to Manchester United but it was to no avail as his injury-hit side lost 2-1.

Jhon Duran scored his seventh Premier League goal of the season to put Villa ahead in the 16th minute when Youri Tielemans sent a sumptuous through ball to former City forward Morgan Rogers, whose unselfish pass found the Colombian forward free to fire home.

Villa Park erupted again in the 65th minute when Rogers latched on to a pass from captain John McGinn and finished with a low hard shot, leaving Guardiola to shake his head in frustration.

Phil Foden pulled one back for City in stoppage time with his first league goal of the season after a mistake by Villa’s Lucas Digne but it proved to be too little too late for the flailing champions, whose spark has vanished.

City have now lost six Premier League games in the current campaign, twice as many as they suffered during the whole of last season, when they were crowned champions for a fourth straight season.

They are realistically out of the title race already — nine points behind leaders Liverpool having played two games more, while Villa leapfrogged them into fifth spot.

While Guardiola’s team could fall to as low as ninth by the end of the weekend and have just one victory to show from that 12-game stretch, the manager said he trusted his players to turn things around.

“It depends on us,” he told the BBC. “The solution is bring the players back. We have just one central defender fit, that is difficult.” “We have to think positive and I have incredible trust in the guys,” he added. “Some of them have incredible pride and desire to do it. We have to find a way, step by step, sooner or later to find a way back.”

Villa boss Unai Emery told TNT Sports that Villa were “feeling strong”. “We played the first half very well,” he said. “In the second half we kept possession more and getting in the box to score the second goal, we imposed and dominated more.”

Forest won their third consecutive Premier League match, condemning Brentford to their first home defeat this season.

Coming into the game, Thomas Frank’s team boasted the best home record in the league, with seven wins and a draw from their eight games at the Gtech Community Stadium.

But they came unstuck against Nuno Espirito Santo’s in-form team and the loss leaves them 12th in the standings.

Although Brentford dominated possession, Forest made their chances count and went ahead in the 38th minute when an unmarked Ola Aina connected with a Neco Williams cross to find the bottom corner.

Forest doubled their lead early in the second half when Anthony Elanga pounced on a defensive error to make it 2-0, before Forest kept the Bees at bay for the rest of the game to seal the three points.

Newcastle deepened Ipswich’s plight and lifted themselves to seventh in the table with a 4-0 win at Portman Road.

Isak volleyed Eddie Howe’s team ahead in the first minute and Jacob Murphy doubled their lead before Isak side-footed in from close range just before the break.

The Sweden international scored his third nine minutes into the second half, poking the ball home after more fine work from Murphy.

The Magpies had a late Dan Burn goal ruled out for offside, but it made no difference as they got their festive season off to a perfect start.

It was a ninth defeat in 17 games for Ipswich since they returned to the Premier League and they remain in the relegation zone, two points from safety.

Mats Wieffer gave Brighton a 51st-minute lead against West Ham when goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski cleared Lewis Dunk’s challenge only to have the ball fall to the feet of the Dutch midfielder, who fired home with his first touch.

Brighton’s lead lasted just seven minutes as keeper Bart Verbruggen did well to bat away Jarrod Bowen’s shot, but a sprinting Mohammed Kudus arrived just in time to head home and the match finished 1-1.

The draw provisionally left the Hammers 14th in the table, while Brighton are ninth.

Premier League leaders Liverpool face a tricky trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday while second-placed Chelsea visit Everton among five matches.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2024