Nunes strikes late as Man City sink Villa to boost Champions League bid

Matheus Nunes scored a priceless stoppage-time winner as Manchester City beat top five-rivals Aston Villa 2-1 on Tuesday to boost their bid to qualify for the Champions League.

Pep Guardiola’s side were seconds away from a damaging draw at the Etihad Stadium after Bernardo Silva’s early opener was cancelled out by Marcus Rashford’s penalty.

But Nunes’s last-gasp strike sparked wild celebrations from Guardiola and his players as they climbed to third place in the Premier League.

With the race for a top-five finish approaching a tense climax, Portugal midfielder Nunes, converted to right-back lately, could not have picked a better time to net his first league goal for City.

City’s 15th successive home league win against Villa wasn’t quite as stunning as the fightback from two goals down that brought them the Premier League title on the last day of the 2021-22 season.

But it could prove almost as lucrative, with a place in the Champions League now within their control.

With four games left, City will remain at least fifth even if fourth-placed Nottingham Forest, fifth-placed Newcastle and sixth-placed Chelsea each win their game in hand.

After winning the Premier League six times in the previous seven seasons, City have been reduced to fighting for a place in the Champions League at a time of year when they are usually in the title hunt.

City’s decline has already been remarkable enough, but enduring a first season without Champions League action since 2010-11 would be a new low and this was a vital step in avoiding that fate.

City will turn their attention to the FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest at Wembley on Sunday, while Villa must bounce back from a painful loss in time for their own last-four clash with Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Villa were eliminated from the Champions League quarter-finals last week after narrowly failing in their bid for a dramatic fightback against Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg.