GERRARD HANDED FIRST PREMIER LEAGUE DEFEAT

New Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard has suffered his first defeat as a Premier League manager after his team suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of defending champions Manchester City. The Liverpool legend directed affairs from the touchline as Villa came close to securing a point. Manchester City held on to take all three points thanks to their two goals before the half-time interval.

Gerrard has had a very good start to his managerial career in the Premier League on the back of his appointment as the Aston Villa manager last month. He was the man appointed to replace Dean Smith who was sacked after a run of five consecutive Premier League defeats. Days after his sack, Smith was given another Premier League managerial job at Norwich City.

Aston Villa were able to win their first two games in the Premier League under the new managerial tenure of Gerrard who left Rangers to take charge of the first team at Villa Park. He had led Rangers to a first Scottish Premiership title for almost a decade last year while stopping the bid from Celtic to win ten league titles on the bounce which would have been unprecedented in Scottish football.

In his first game as the Villa manager, Ollie Watkins and Tyrone Mingsscored twice in the last ten minutes to start the Steven Gerrard managerial era with a 2-0 home win over Brighton and Hove Albion. Villa made it two straight wins under Gerrard with the 2-1 away win over London team Crystal Palace.

The run of two successive league wins was stopped by Manchester City thanks to the goals from Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva. The second City goal from Silva on 43 minutes is an early contender for the best goal this season. Villa pulled one back two minutes after restart through England international Watkins and they could have levelled proceedings in the 74^th minute if not for the world class save from City goalkeeper EdersonMoraes to deny young Villa substitute Carny Chukwuemeka. In the end, City held on to hold on to their place as the second best team on the league table and one point off leaders Chelsea.