Manchester City 2-1 Aston Villa

Aston Villa suffered a last-gasp 2-1 defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium as Matheus Nunes converted a 94^th-minute winner.

A hard-fought encounter appeared set to end all square until deep into injury time as Nunes arrived at the back post to finish a low ball across the face of goal from Jeremy Doku.

Marcus Rashford’s penalty in the 18^th minute, awarded following a pitchside screen review for Ruben Dias’ foul on Jacob Ramsey, had earlier drawn Villa level.

Rashford, who also struck a post inside 17 seconds, saw his fourth goal in claret and blue cancel out Bernardo Silva’s strike.

The Villans looked on course for their first point at City since 2007 but Nunes’ late effort settled what was an evenly-matched Premier League clash.

Unai Emery’s side, having won 10 of their last 12 in all competitions, saw their five-match winning sequence in the Premier League come to an end as they chase a top-five finish.

Just one point and two places separated the sides in the table heading into the encounter, with both teams also looking ahead to FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley this weekend.

Emery made five changes to his starting XI – Rashford, Ramsey, Lucas Digne, Pau Torres and Amadou Onana all restored to Villa’s line-up after Saturday’s 4-1 victory over Newcastle United.

And Rashford came within inches of handing the visitors a dream start straight from kick-off, firing a low effort against the base of the far post having been fed by Youri Tielemans.

Yet it was the home side who opened the scoring after seven minutes as Omar Marmoush’s cut back fell kindly into the path of Bernardo and his 12-yard strike got the better of Emi Martínez.

However, a pulsating opening quarter saw Villa draw level from the penalty spot.

Ramsey was upended in the area by Dias and, after play initially continued, referee Craig Pawson was called over to his screen following a VAR review, with a spot-kick duly awarded and Rashford coolly sending Stefan Ortega the wrong way.

Martínez collected Kevin De Bruyne’s header and got down low to deny Mateo Kovacic from distance as a finely-balanced first half drew to a close.

Boubacar Kamara blocked Dias’ effort from a corner early in the second period before James McAtee’s 20-yard lob fell just wide of the far post, with the encounter flowing from end to end.

Manager Emery turned to captain John McGinn and Axel Disasi just after the hour, with Rashford quickly coming close as he rounded Ortega but could only find the side-netting from a tight angle.

Marco Asensio and Ollie Watkins were introduced as Villa looked to find a cutting edge in a tight affair amid the latter stages.

Both sides continued to push forward in search of a winner, with Donyell Malen also entering the fray in the 86^th minute.

Yet, as the meeting looked to finish a point apiece, Nunes arrived at the back post to have the final say for City.