Manchester City vs Aston Villa: Guardiola loses final Premier League match

The trend of shambolic second-half performances which has plagued Manchester City all season and contributed to their losing the Premier League title to Arsenal reared its head in their final match of the season against Aston Villa.

With the Premier League title gone, the final home match of the season was billed as a procession for the departing Pep Guardiola, along with squad veterans like John Stones and Bernardo Silva.

However, they failed to mark the momentous occasion with victory as a spirited second half performance from the Europa League champions, Aston Vila, condemned Guardiola to his 90th and final defeat as Manchester City boss.

While the result is a frustrating end to the league season, the football itself was entirely overshadowed by the monumental, tear-filled farewells taking place.

Unai Emery’s Aston Villa side were coming off their Europa League triumph and were understandably leggy in the first half.

Capitalising on the lethargy shown by the visitors, Manchester City dictated the entire first half and got a goal for their troubles.

In the 22nd minute, Antoine Semenyo reacted quickest in the penalty area, dispatching a right-footed strike into the bottom left corner to put Manchester City 1-0 up and seemingly script a perfect farewell.

However, Villa immediately flipped the script after the interval. Ross Barkley and Ian Maatsen helped slice through City's press, and Ollie Watkins guided a clinical left-footed strike into the bottom corner from five meters out to level the score at 1-1.

Watkins silenced the Etihad by putting Villa ahead just past the hour mark. Capitalising on another fast break, the English striker secured his second goal of the match, his 16th of the league campaign, to give the visitors a 2-1 advantage.

Desperate to give Guardiola a victorious send-off, City threw everything forward in the dying moments. Phil Foden thought he had rescued a dramatic point deep into stoppage time, but following a tense VAR review, the goal was ruled out for offside, effectively ending the contest.