Aston Villa shocked Manchester City in a 1-0 win at Villa Park on Wednesday and went above the defending champions in the Premier League (PL) points table with a two-point difference.
Unai Emery’s men didn’t just win the game but also gave tough competition to Pep Guardiola’s troops as the Villans had 46% possession and made 22 shots towards Ederson’s goal with seven of them being on target.
The deadlock between the sides finally broke in the 74th minute when Leon Bailey’s strike found the back of the net courtesy of a huge deflection off Ruben Dias.
Emery has done an excellent job with the Villans and a complete performance against the European champions was a testament to it. However, despite things going his way, the Spaniard doesn’t consider his side to be title contenders.
"We are not contenders," the Villa boss rapidly responded when asked if his side could fight for the title. "There are seven teams more contenders than us. This is day 15. Day 16 is against Arsenal. We must focus. We are happy to be third, but to keep it will be very difficult. While we are there we will try to keep it.
"There are still a lot of matches to play. If we keep progressing during the season – playing matches and winning like we are doing – maybe we can get to be contenders but not now. I think we need more time. We can believe but we are not contenders because there are seven teams that at the beginning were contenders. Maybe it will change on day 30, maybe 32. Not yet.”
Meanwhile, Guardiola praised Aston Villa after the match and openly disagreed with Emery saying that his side is definitely a title contender.
"Definitely," the treble-winning manager when asked if the Villans would be in the fight.
"The way they are playing and when you are there and see the tempo, the speed, the bench. The organisation from Unai and the set pieces and the high pressing and the medium block; how incredible they defend the back and a good keeper... Absolutely," Guardiola continued