Two Premier League games were postponed because of the first English major trophy final in 2020: Aston Villa vs Manchester City. After 90 minutes, Pep Guardiola’s men retained the English League Cup at Wembley.
Manchester City had a good start, as Phil Foden set up Sergio Agüero’s goal at 20th minute; Rodrigo Hernández extended the lead from a corner 10 minutes later. However, Dean Smith’s team clawed one back by Mbwana Samatta’s goal, keeping the game on. Thanks to Claudio Bravo’s save in the second half, City won the game by two goals to one.
In this tactical analysis, we will show you how City beat Aston Villa. It is an analysis that focuses on tactics.
Lineups
Villa started in a 4-4-1-1 formation instead of a back three they used last game. Ørjan Nyland started ahead of Pepe Reina; Kortney Hause was not included in the squad and Ezri Konsa was on the bench, Björn Engels was the partner of Tyrone Mings.
Guardiola made huge changes regarding his selections from the midweek game. Bravo, the cup goalkeeper started the game; at the backline, Manchester City had Stones, Fernandinho and Oleksandr Zinchenko returned to the starting team; David Silva, Agüero and Raheem Sterling were the attacking players; a slightly out of expectation choice was Foden. They played in a 4-2-3-1.
Villa defensive style of play
Smith planned to set their team to defend and deny City’s attack, instead of looking to press and win the ball high. Their PPDA: 18.53 was higher than their season average 13.51. Also, in the last 15 minutes in the first half, this figure raised to 63. It hinted that they allowed City to keep the ball comfortably in the first phase of the attack.
In general, their defensive shapes was a 4-5-1 or a 4-3-3, depending on different situations. Their main idea was to remain compact and protect the central areas. Villas lone striker, Samatta was tasked to man-mark Rodri to eliminate City’s sole pivot in the build-up.
In
![Lazio Vs Napoli [0–2] – Serie A 2025/2026: Maurizio Sarri Zonal Marking Weaknesses And Unsuccessful Attacking Choices – Tactical Analysis](https://totalfootballanalysis.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Lazio-Vs-Napoli-tactical-analysis--350x250.png "Lazio Vs Napoli [0–2] – Serie A 2025/2026: How Antonio Conte Tactics Exploited Structural Flaws – Tactical Analysis 3")
