Erling Haaland headed Pep Guardiola’s men in front early in the second half, but a clinical Leon Bailey finished drew the hosts level with 15 to play.
And despite the Premier League champions creating several clear-cut chances late on, Villa could even have won it when Phillipe Coutinho’s strike was ruled out for offside following a VAR review.
Nonetheless, City are now unbeaten in 19 matches in the English top flight, our longest run in the competition since November 2020 to March 2021.
Below, you can discover some of the numbers behind an entertaining clash at Villa Park, which turned out to be another record-breaking afternoon for our new No.9.
Perfect Ten
Erling Haaland arrived at the Etihad Stadium with a formidable scoring record, and that reputation has been vindicated by his incredible start to life at City.
When the Norwegian headed home the game’s opening goal at Villa Park, it represented his tenth Premier League strike in just six appearances.
A brace on his league debut against West Ham was followed up by an instinctive volley in our thrilling 3-3 draw with Newcastle two weeks later.
The 22-year-old would then grab back-to-back hat-tricks in wins over Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest at the Etihad Stadium, before his latest strike against the Villans.
It is the earliest into a Premier League season that any player has reached double figures, while only Micky Quinn has matched Haaland’s tally inside his first six matches for a club in the competition, doing so for Coventry City in 1992/93.
Impressive opener
While Haaland will rightfully take the plaudits, the Norwegian’s goal was the culmination of a typically impressive team move.
City picked up possession with 47:38 on the clock following an overhit cross from Leon Bailey and would hold onto it for almost two minutes before our No.9 volleyed home at the far post on 49:11.
The passing sequence which led to the goal, after a brief stoppage due to a deflated ball, saw nine different City players touch the ball, with only Phil Foden and Ilkay Gundogan not involved in that particular passage of play.
In total, there were 18 passes in the build-up to the opening goal, as demonstrated by the graphic below.
In short, while every member of Guardiola’s squad is capable of being the match winner for City, our true strength, as emphasised by the boss on multiple occasions over the years, lies in the collective.
On the ball
Given our track record for possessional dominance under Pep Guardiola, it comes as no surprise to learn that City controlled the ball at Villa Park.
Despite enjoying a 72% share of possession against Aston Villa across the 90 minutes though, we have ended with a higher percentage in three of our previous five Premier League matches this season.
On average, City’s possession stats for the 2022/23 campaign so far sit at an incredible 72%, with our lowest figure still seeing us reach 67% in our 4-0 win over Bournemouth.
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Of course, that dominance on the ball also limits our opponents’ chances on goal.
Focusing on our 1-1 draw with Villa, the hosts registered just three shots on goal across the 90 minutes compared to City’s 13. Only Newcastle have been able to hit double figures in this metric against Guardiola’s men this season.
In total, City have had 102 shots on goal across 2022/23 so far, all while limiting our opponents to just 34. Of those efforts on our goal, just 12 have been on target.
