Cherki substituted at half-time for third time as Manchester City loses to Aston Villa

Manchester City suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season on Saturday, losing 2-1 at home to Aston Villa, with Rayan Cherki withdrawn at half-time once again, fueling questions about his place in Enzo Maresca’s plans.

The French international, who has scored six goals since the start of the season including one on Tuesday in AEK Athens’ 5-1 victory in the UEFA Champions League, had been named in the starting XI in the number 10 role. But as in the derby against Manchester United on 13 September and the clash against PSG in the Ligue des Champions ten days earlier, Maresca chose to replace him at the break, this time bringing on Phil Foden.

On the pitch, it was Nicolas Jackson who dominated. The Chelsea striker — on loan at Villa — opened the scoring in the sixth minute before Erling Haaland equalized shortly after the restart, rising above Victor Lindelöf to finish a cross from Iliman Ndiaye (52nd minute). Jackson then secured victory for Villa by converting a cutback from Ibrahim Mbaye, his Senegal teammate (60th minute), after Gianluigi Donnarumma spilled the ball into his own net.

Jérémy Doku, Foden and Haaland failed to find a way past Zion Suzuki, Aston Villa’s Japanese goalkeeper. City, who had been leading the league, suffer their first defeat and could see Arsenal draw level. Manchester City face Brighton, third in the table, in a week’s time. Aston Villa, after a difficult start to the season, climb to sixth place.