Seven straight wins, gone in Birmingham: Jackson scores twice and City's perfect start ends at Villa Park

Six minutes was all it took to crack the perfect start. Marc Guehi took a heavy touch inside his own half, John McGinn pounced on it and fed Nicolas Jackson, and Villa Park had the lead it has started to expect in this fixture. Manchester City arrived chasing an eighth straight league win to open the season. They left with their first defeat under Enzo Maresca, beaten 2-1 by the side that now beats them at this ground as a matter of routine.

City had their moments, and most of them ran into Zion Suzuki. The goalkeeper signed in August to replace Emi Martinez denied Rayan Cherki, Iliman Ndiaye struck the woodwork, and when Erling Haaland, back from the foot injury that kept him out in midweek, headed Ndiaye's cross in on 52 minutes, the equaliser felt like the start of the usual rescue. Instead Suzuki pushed a fierce Josko Gvardiol effort away, and the rescue never came.

On the hour, substitute Ibrahim Mbaye surged down the right and cut the ball back, and Jackson's first time finish squirmed under Gianluigi Donnarumma to restore the lead. The strangest line of the afternoon sits in the shot count: City registered seven shots on target to Villa's two, and lost. Both of Villa's were Jackson's. Both went in. In the 89th minute a late Haaland effort was cleared away, and that was the perfect record gone.

The table gives the result its weight. City stay top on 21 points, but Arsenal took their invitation a few hours later, beating Everton 2-0 at the Emirates with Ezri Konsa scoring on seven minutes and Gabriel Magalhaes heading the second on 68, on his 200th Premier League appearance, to join City on 21 and sit second only on goal difference. Villa climb to sixth on 11 points, with six wins from their last seven games in all competitions, and this was their fourth straight home league win over City.

Our call is that Villa Park is now a genuine problem ground for City, not a coincidence they can schedule away. Four straight league defeats at one away stadium changes how both managers plan the fixture, and it lands on a Villa side that failed to win any of its first four games and took one point from them. Unai Emery rebuilt on the run, again, and his new striker has seven goals in all competitions. City did enough with the ball to win most games, which is exactly why this one should worry them more, not less: the title race that looked settled in October is open because the leaders can now be beaten by a plan, and Arsenal are level and waiting for the next slip.