Liverpool Legend Gerrard Suffers 1st Defeat as Aston Villa Boss as Manchester City Keep Pace with Chelsea

• Manchester City scored two first-half goals that proved enough to see out Aston Villa in their backyard
• Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva were on the score sheet for Pep Guardiola’s side who remain a point behind leaders Chelsea
• This was Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard’s first defeat since taking charge as Aston Villa manager at Villa Park

Bernardo Silva scored one of the goals of the season as Manchester City kept up pace with Liverpool and Chelsea with a narrow 2-1 win over Aston Villa.

City went 2-0 up in the first half but Olie Watkins could only half the deficit as Steven Gerrard suffered his first defeat as Aston Villa manager.

Prior to the game, Guardiola had hinted his side might struggle in the coming weeks as he was facing a ‘player emergency’.

But despite concern over an avalanche of games in the December period, class is something City definitely have and they showed it through Ruben Dias, who curled in the opener from the edge of the box in the 27th minute.

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It was then Bernardo Silva’s turn to impress, and the Portuguese playmaker exhibited outrageous composure and skill with a side-foot volley to the roof of the net after a ball from Gabriel Jesus.

Villa, who have been playing some neat football under Steven Gerrard, replied almost immediately after the restart as Ollie Watkins found the net from a neatly-worked corner routine.

Notably, Aston Villa seemed to lose their plot after the injury to the impactful Leon Bailley after 30 minutes.

The closest the Villains went to levelling the game was when 18-year-old Carney Chukwuemeka’s effort was kept out by Ederson.

Jack Grealish, a former Villa man, could only make a cameo for his first appearance since November 3, but his impact was not necessarily needed as City had already done the damage in the first half.

Liverpool, Chelsea also claim three points

In the other games, Liverpool was too good for Everton in the Merseyside derby as Rafa Benitez's winless run stretched to eight games.

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Mo Salah struck twice, whole Jordan Henderson's opener and Diogo Jota's goal late in the second half proved enough for Jurgen Klopp's men to see off their city rivals.

Chelsea beat Watford to remain top of the league

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Watford vs Chelsea Premier League encounter ended in a 2-1 win in favour of the Blues at Vicarage Road on the night of Wednesday, December 1.

The Blues were desperate to return to winning ways as Claudio Ranieri welcomed his former side at Vicarage having been forced to settle for a 1-1 draw against Man United in their last league outing.

However, they had to sweat for the victory as the Hornets proved to be a hard nut to crack.

Mason Mount and Hakim Ziyech both scored for the west Londoners with Emmanuel Dennis scoring Watford's consolation

The Blues remain top on the log with 33 points, just one ahead of Man City and two ahead of Liverpool.