Leon Bailey's deflected strike earned Aston Villa a deserved 1-0 win over Manchester City at Villa Park that lifted them above the reigning champions into third.

The goal came late in the game to maintain the perfect home record of Unai Emery's side and reflected their superior endeavour throughout the contest against an unusually passive City. It is now four Premier League games without a win for Pep Guardiola's side.

Erling Haaland did have two chances in the first half but City never looked comfortable, missing the suspended Rodri badly. They drop to fourth in the table and are now six points adrift of Arsenal. On this evidence, they may need to worry about Villa too.

There was a reminder of the size of the threat at the other end when Haaland had two chances in quick succession, both saved by the superb Emiliano Martinez. But those were City's only two shots of a frantic first half. Villa had no fewer than 13 of their own.

City did briefly exert slightly better control at the start of the second half but Villa came again. Bernardo Silva's loose pass was seized upon by Bailey and he fed John McGinn who looked set to stroke the ball home but measured his shot wide of the far post.

Bailey was not to be denied. Having tormented Josko Gvardiol for much of the evening, he sprinted away from him again before cutting inside and seeing his right-footed shot deflect off the foot of Ruben Dias and beyond the helpless Ederson. Lift off at Villa Park.

The absence of Rodri will be firmly in the spotlight given that City are unbeaten in 43 matches with the Spain international in the team. Their last five defeats have now come when he has been missing, such is his obvious importance.

Guardiola knows better than anyone how much he needs him but refused to use that as an excuse. "With Rodri we could not win against Liverpool and Spurs," he said, referring to those recent draws. "Of course, he is important. But it is my job to find a way to do it."

Against Villa, that never looked like happening. "The better team won," he acknowledged. "Aston Villa were better than us. We struggled to make some process and after, especially when they defended with a medium block, we didn't find the moments behind.

"It was really difficult because they are really physical and able to control many aspects. That is the reason why they are up there, playing good football and we could not do it. It is my duty, my job to find a way to come back from the situation.