Two goals in the closing 10 minutes from Sergio Agüero and Yaya Toure gave champions Manchester City a 2-0 win over Aston Villa at Villa Park in the day’s late kick-off in the Premier League.
The match seemed destined to end goalless until Toure broke the deadlock for City in the 82nd minute for his first goal of the season before Agüero sealed the result two minutes to the end with an effort from inside the area.
The result condemns Villa to a third straight defeat without scoring having opened the season with three wins from four matches, while City now occupies second place with 14 points, two points behind Chelsea that host Arsenal on Sunday.
City dominated proceedings in the first half and created the better openings but somehow failed to break the deadlock, with Aleksandar Kolarov seeing a deflected effort skim off the woodwork early on while James Milner hit the post just before half-time though had been flagged offside.
The second half began in blistering pace, with Agüero being denied by the Villa post two minutes in while Man. City goalkeeper Joe Hart saved brilliantly from Kieran Richardson at the end of a counterattack following Agüero’s miss.
A minute later and Villa’s Brad Guzan was called to action, reacting quick enough to keep out a David Silva strike from 15 yards which took a heavy deflection off Philippe Senderos on its way, while Fabian Delph and Edin Dzeko had opportunities go by at either end moments later.
Silva then fired a freekick just over soon after the hour mark, sending a tame effort straight at Guzan soon after before Agüero and Eliaquim Mangala were denied by the American goalkeeper as time ran out for the dominant visitors.
Guzan denied substitute Frank Lampard from a long range strike but the American was eventually beaten seconds later as the ball found its way to Yaya Toure who lashed in an effort from 25 yards to put City in front.
And Agüero became the first City player to score in five successive away matches in the Premier League, picking up a pass from the edge of the area and beating off two defenders before hitting a fierce shot into the bottom corner in the 88th minute.