Game #4742
Aston Villa
Thursday, 26 December 2002
Lost
16th (-1)
Last 5: 🟥 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟥
Premier League
Attendance: 33,991
Manchester City
Maine Road
Manchester City
3-1
Aston Villa
Assist(s) | Jlloyd Samuel | 41’ |
MATCH SUMMARY
Villa lose for the fourth time in five in all competitions to leave them with six wins in twenty Premier League games under Graham Taylor as they fall to 16th in the table.
KEY MAN
Dion Dublin, equaliser
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Copyright Historical Football Kits and reproduced by kind permission.
MATCH TIMELINE
Thursday, 26 December 2002
🥅 | 15’ Goal, 0-1, (Manchester City), Marc-Vivien Foé
🟨 | 18’ Booking, Ulises de la Cruz
⚽ | 41’ Goal, 1-1, Dion Dublin, Assist by Jlloyd Samuel
🕒 | HT Manchester City 1-1 Aston Villa
🔁 | 63’ Sub off, Darius Vassell, Sub on, Juan Pablo Ángel
🔁 | 68’ Sub off, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Sub on, Öyvind Leonhardsen
🥅 | 78’ Goal, 1-2, (Manchester City), Ali Bernarbia
🥅 | 80’ Goal, 1-3, (Manchester City), Marc-Vivien Foé
🔁 | 89’ Sub off, Öyvind Leonhardsen, Sub on, Lee Hendrie
🕒 | FT Manchester City 3-1 Aston Villa
ON THIS DAY
Villa lose for the sixteenth time in 33 League games under Graham Taylor, having won six times in the top flight this season.
Aston Villa
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: ❌
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96
Manchester City
European Cup / Champions League: ❌
UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1975-76
FIXTURE HISTORY
Manchester City
Previous 5 vs. Manchester City: 🟥 🟥 🟨 🟩 🟩
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 2002-03 |
Matchday | #28 |
League Game | #20 |
Manager Game | #41 |
Thursday, 26 December 2002
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: Graham Taylor | 🏴 | Worksop, 2002-2003
Referee: Mark Halsey | 🏴 | Hertfordshire, 1996-2013
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟨 1-1
FT Score: 🟥 1-3
FT Result: 🟥 Lost
Last 5: 🟥 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟥
MANAGERIAL RECORD
Graham Taylor | 🏴 | 2002-03
GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME
🕒 41 | 🟩 | 13 🟨 | 9 🟥 19 | 1.17
Villa Career Form:
Bottom 8
ALL THE MATCHES LED BY:
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Mark Halsey | 🏴 | Hertfordshire, 1996-2013
Previous 5: 🟨 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟨
Last Match: 🟨 6 Oct 02, Villa 0-0 Leeds (h)
Cards: 🟨
ALL THE MATCHES REFEREED BY:
CARDS
Villa
🟨
Manchester City
None
TEAM NEWS
Ulises de la Cruz and Mark Kinsella replace Lee Hendrie and Öyvind Leonhardsen.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 26.88 |
Oldest Player |
LB Steve Staunton | 🇮🇪 | 33.96 |
Youngest Player |
M Thomas Hitzlsperger | 🇩🇪 | 20.74 |
MANAGER
Graham Taylor | 🏴 | 2002-03
Aston Villa
GK Peter Enckelman | 🇫🇮 |
LB Steve Staunton | 🇮🇪 |
CB Olof Mellberg | 🇸🇪 |
RB Ulises de la Cruz | 🇪🇨 | 🟨 |
RB Jlloyd Samuel | 🏴 | 🔥 |
M Mustapha Hadji | 🇲🇦 |
M Gareth Barry | 🏴 |
M Mark Kinsella | 🇮🇪 |
M Thomas Hitzlsperger | 🇩🇪 | 🔁 |
CF Dion Dublin | 🏴 | ⚽ |
F Darius Vassell | 🏴 | 🔁 |
MANAGER
Kevin Keegan | 🏴 |
Manchester City
GK Peter Schmeichel (ex) | 🇩🇰 |
LB Danny Tiatto | 🇦🇺 | 🔁 |
CB Steve Howey | 🏴 |
CB Silvain Distin | 🇫🇷 |
CB Richard Dunne | 🇮🇪 |
CB Terry Hurlock | 🏴 |
M Eyal Berkovic | 🇮🇱 |
M Marc-Vivien Foé | 🇨🇲 | ⚽ | ⚽ |
W Shaun Wright-Phillips | 🏴 | 🔁 |
CF Shaun Goater | 🇧🇲 | 🔁 |
CF Nicolas Anelka | 🇫🇷 |
Not necessarily indicative of the actual matchday formation
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 CF Juan Pablo Ángel | 🇨🇴 | for F Darius Vassell | 🏴 | 63’ |
🔁 M Öyvind Leonhardsen | 🇳🇴 | 🔁 | for M Thomas Hitzlsperger | 🇩🇪 | 68’ |
🔁 M Lee Hendrie | 🏴 | for M Öyvind Leonhardsen | 🇳🇴 | 89’ |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | LB Danny Tiatto | 🇦🇺 | (LB Niclas Jensen | 🇩🇰 |)
🔁 | W Shaun Wright-Phillips | 🏴 | (M Ali Benarbia | 🇩🇿 | ⚽ |)
🔁 | CF Shaun Goater | 🇧🇲 | (W Darren Huckerby | 🏴 |)
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Stefan Postma | 🇳🇱 |
F Marcus Allbäck | 🇸🇪 |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Carlo Nash | 🏴 |
CB Gerard Wiekens | 🇳🇱 |
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 4/11
Homegrown: 4/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 5/16
Homegrown: 5/16
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 3/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 5/16
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Not reported
UNAVAILABLE
Not Recorded
Player Positions:
GK : Goalkeeper
CB, D, B : Centre Back, Defender, Back
FB, LB, RB, WH : Full Back, Left Back, Right Back, Wing Back, Wing Half
M, CH, LH, RH : Midfielder, Centre Half, Left Half, Right Half
W, OL, OR : Winger, Outside Left, Outside Right
F, IF, IL, IR : Forward, Inside Forward, Inside Left, Inside Right, Second Striker, False 9
CF : Centre Forward
Match Symbols:
⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution
🟨 | Booking
🟥 | Sending off
🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game
DEBUT APPEARANCES
FINAL APPEARANCES
MATCH STATS
Not reported
LEAGUE TABLE
MATCHDAY PROGRAMME
MATCHDAY QUOTES
“We are creating chances, we just aren’t taking them.”
Graham Taylor.
*BBC Sport*
Thursday, 26 December 2002
Late goals from Ali Benarbia and Marc-Vivien Foe wrapped all three points for Man City at Maine Road as Aston Villa woeful away form continued.
Foe’s 80th-minute strike - his second of the game and fifth goal in four matches - put the seal on a hard-earned victory after a good display from Kevin Keegan’s men.
The Cameroon international put City into the lead after 15 minutes, but his team did not take full advantage of their early dominance and allowed Dion Dublin to equalise in the 40th minute.
The game looked to be heading for a draw until the late interventions from Benarbia and Foe left Villa still searching for their first away win of the Premiership season.
City started at full throttle and almost scored in the first minute after an under-hit Thomas Hitzlsperger backpass put Villa keeper Peter Enckelman in trouble but he just managed to get to the ball ahead of Goater.
Anelka and Foe then both went close as City served notice of their attacking intentions.
Villa failed to heed the warning though and Foe put the finishing touch to a lovely passing move involving Anelka and Goater to put City in the lead after 15 minutes.
City could have been left to regret their missed chances though as Villa gradually muscled their way back into the game.
After several poor clearances from Peter Schmeichel’s boot put Man City under pressure, a terrible misjudgement from defender Sylvain Distin finally gifted the visitors their equaliser.
The French defender allowed JLloyd Samuel to beat him to a ball on the by-line and the youngster’s cut-back found Dublin at close range.
Second-half substitute Benarbia made the difference for City, hitting the bar from 25 yards out within minutes of coming on.
The Algerian was not to be denied though and he got on the end of Anelka’s well-directed cross with an excellent diving header in the 78th minute to put City back in front.
Two minutes later Benarbia issued a beautiful pass behind a static Villa defence which Foe got on the end of to put the game beyond Villa’s reach.