Manchester City suffered their first loss in 10 matches in all competitions as Matty Cash’s first-half strike secured a 1-0 victory for Aston Villa on Sunday, the hosts’ fourth straight win in the Premier League.

City’s first loss since August left them six points behind leaders Arsenal after nine matches. Villa, unbeaten in their last six league games, are a point below City.

“We work a lot on set-pieces, over the last couple of years there have been a lot of set-pieces that have won us games and today is no different,” Cash told the BBC after his second league goal of the season.

“The last month we’ve been really good. Defensively really good. We’ve just stuck together as a group. And at Villa Park they’re always behind us.”

Villa looked to find Ollie Watkins with long balls and coun

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