Birmingham: Champions Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa in the Premier League tonight after Erling Haaland grabbed his 10th goal in six games.
Jamaican Leon Bailey fired in a fine equaliser for Villa in the 74th minute after excellent work from Jacob Ramsey who provided a crisp, low cross which the winger curled into the top corner with a first-time left-foot finish.
Haaland had put Pep Guardiola’s side in front, five minutes into the second half, after connecting with an excellent deep cross from the right flank by Kevin De Bruyne.
De Bruyne then hit the bar with a dipping free-kick but Villa defended well against a wave of City attacks before Bailey struck.
Under pressure
Gerrard, who has admitted to feeling under pressure due to Villa’s poor start to the season, threw on Philippe Coutinho and the Brazilian had the ball in the net only to see the flag raised for offside.
No VAR review was possible for that effort, but replays suggested Coutinho may have been in an onside position.
The result leaves City in second place on 14 points, one behind leaders Arsenal who face Manchester United at Old Trafford tomorrow.
Meanwhile, West Ham United boss David Moyes labelled the video assistant referee’s (VAR) decision to rule out an equaliser in their 2-1 Premier League defeat at Chelsea “ridiculously bad”.
Chelsea came from behind to beat West Ham at Stamford Bridge, but they also had VAR to thank after a 90th-minute Maxwel Cornet effort was ruled out.
With Chelsea 2-1 up, substitute Cornet thought he had levelled it for West Ham in the dying moments but his goal was disallowed after the VAR decided that Jarrod Bowen had fouled Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
“Have you seen it? The goalkeeper comes to take it (the ball) and actually fumbles it about five or six yards then he acts as if he’s got a shoulder injury. I am amazed that VAR sent the referee to see it,” Moyes told reporters.
“I thought even if he goes to the TV, there’s no way he’s overturning it. It was a ridiculously bad decision. The referee should have taken responsibility, there is no excuse for that not to be a goal.
“I’ve lost faith in the people who are putting it up for VAR. I can’t see how the goal isn’t given.” Moyes also hit out at Mendy, saying the keeper “faked” the injury.
“The referees said they were going to cut back on soft challenges and that was unbelievably soft,” Moyes added.
No comment
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said the challenge was a foul.
“It went in our favour and there’s a reason it went in our favour. In my opinion, it is a foul,” Tuchel said.
“I will not comment anymore but what happened against Tottenham (Hotspur) was so obvious and I paid a lot of money for commenting, so I will not do it.”
Harry Kane notched his fifth goal of the campaign as Tottenham Hotspur maintained their impressive start to the Premier League season with a 2-1 win over Fulham that did little justice to their best attacking display so far.
A Daniel Podence goal on the stroke of half-time gave Wolverhampton Wanderers a 1-0 win over Southampton, their first victory of the season.
Ivan Toney struck a sensational hat-trick to earn Brentford a thrilling 5-2 home win over Leeds United.
