Manchester City Back to 2nd place in Premier League standings

• Manchester City moved to within three points of Arsenal at the top.
• Pep Guardiola came out swinging in defence of the club’s leadership.
• They had cause to celebrate after just four minutes when Rodri headed in corner.

Manchester City got to within three points of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League standings with a 3-1 win over Aston Villa on Sunday, shrugging off the uncertainty produced by a series of Premier League charges.

The English champions are under a cloud after the Premier League charged the club with more than 100 financial rule violations dating back to 2009.

If found guilty, City could risk a significant points deduction or potentially relegation from the Premier League.

But City manager Pep Guardiola came out swinging in defense of the club’s leadership, blaming the claims on envious Premier League competitors, and his players followed suit with a display of defiance on the field.

Back to second place @ManCity 👏#MCIAVL pic.twitter.com/5cwA9jmFqm

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— Premier League (@premierleague) February 12, 2023

Arsenal still has a game left to play, but City will now take over first place if they triumph at the Emirates in midweek.

In contrast to last weekend, when the reigning champions squandered the opportunity to pounce with a setback away to Tottenham, the Gunners’ 1-1 draw at home to Brentford on Saturday provided the opening for City, and this time they did not make a mistake.

Guardiola also gained insight from a Spurs lineup attempt.

When Kevin De Bruyne, Aymeric Laporte, Ruben Dias, and Gundogan were reinstated to the starting lineup, City began to resemble their previous selves much more.

Before the game began, the Premier League anthem was booed by the City fans, and a flag was raised in favour of the defence attorney the team had retained.

They had cause to celebrate after just four minutes when Rodri headed in a corner from Mahrez by rising to the highest point.

In the mood to cause some damage against his previous team, Jack Grealish was only stopped from scoring by a spectacular finger-tip save from Emiliano Martinez.

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