Substitute Fernandinho struck a late winner as Manchester City killed off an Aston Villa comeback to claim a frantic 3-2 victory at the Etihad Stadium.
City looked to have thrown away victory as Villa recovered from 2-0 down with second-half goals from Tom Cleverley and Carlos Sanchez but Fernandinho had the final word in the 89th minute.
City had been gifted an early lead when Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan blundered and Sergio Aguero pounced.
The hosts were far from convincing but looked to have the game wrapped up when Aleksandar Kolarov curled home an excellent free-kick after the break.
But FA Cup finalists Villa, initially flat after last week’s Wembley exertions, hit back, showing plenty of urgency in what is still a fight against relegation for them.
Sanchez thought he had snatched a hard-earned point but City recovered to reclaim second place in the table ahead of the clash between rivals Arsenal and Manchester United later in the weekend.
City were unchanged and similar to last week – when West Ham’s James Collins gifted them an opener – the hosts were handed an early goal.
This time goalkeeper Guzan erred when, seemingly under no pressure, he badly miskicked a Ron Vlaar backpass and effectively gave Aguero an open goal.
Naturally, City’s ace marksman accepted the chance and slid home his 27th goal of the season with just three minutes on the clock.
If Guzan was hoping to force his way into manager Tim Sherwood’s thinking for Wembley, having deferred to Shay Given so far in the cup run, it was the worst possible start.
Things almost got worse for the American too as he came out to claim a Kolarov free-kick but completely missed the ball. To his relief Fernando was unable to guide the ball into the empty net.
Guzan did deal with an Aguero shot from the edge of the area but Villa’s sloppy start continued as an aimless Leandro Bacuna backpass played in the Argentinian yet again. This time Villa were able to scramble back and Jesus Navas’ follow-up effort was blocked.
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