“City” suffers its first defeat.. and Arsenal joins it at the top

City and Arsenal now have 21 points, but the former still leads on goal difference over the London club, its most prominent rival for the title in recent seasons.

The two teams face difficult tests next week, as Arsenal visits Liverpool, while Manchester City plays its guest Brighton.

Jackson scored his brace in the 6th and 60th minutes, while the Norwegian giant Erling Haaland scored the only goal for Manchester City, whose Italian coach Enzo Maresca had become the first coach to win his first seven league matches with a new club, but he failed to find a solution to his team's struggles at Villa Park, where his team has now lost for the last four seasons.

After Jackson opened the scoring with a powerful shot after just six minutes, Villa relied on the brilliance of its Japanese goalkeeper Zion Suzuki to keep City away from the net.

Haaland equalized briefly at the start of the second half, but Villa responded in the 60th minute when Jackson converted a cross from his compatriot Ibrahim Mbaye into the net.

Four years after the arrival of Emery, who transformed the club from a sleeping giant into a team participating in the Champions League, the Spanish coach continues to work miracles despite the disintegration of the backbone of his squad in recent seasons.

Emery said, "It's a great day to share with our fans at Villa Park. We felt that this stadium is our fortress, and the energy the fans gave us was truly amazing."

Villa full-back Matty Cash said of his coach, "He is a tactical genius in every sense of the word. He always has a new plan for every situation, and he continues to constantly invent new ideas."

Six players from the squad that started in the final where Villa won the Europa League last season left during the transfer window.

But smart signings of players like Jackson, Suzuki, Mbaye, and Swiss Johann Manzambi have already started to bear fruit after a slow start to the season.

Until now, City has managed to ignore the clouds hanging over its future in the league and continue winning on the pitch.

The ten-time English champion is resuming a trial over more than 100 charges related to violating financial rules between 2009 and 2018, a case that could lead to severe penalties, including relegation to the second tier.

Maresca said, "I think we deserved more from this match given the number of chances we created and allowed the opponent," adding, "We lost because we were probably not effective enough inside their penalty area."

Villa's sixth win in its last seven matches in all competitions moved the team to sixth place.

Kings of set-pieces

Arsenal beat its guest Everton 2-0, regaining its effectiveness in scoring from set-pieces at the rain-soaked Emirates Stadium.

Ezri Konsa opened the scoring early (7), netting his first goal for the London club since joining from Aston Villa last August, and his teammate in central defense, Brazilian international Gabriel Magalhães, added the second goal (68).

Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta was forced to make adjustments to his squad after Bukayo Saka suffered a muscle injury during the 2-2 draw with Germany's Bayern Munich in the Champions League mid-week, so he deployed Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze on the flanks.

The hosts started the match strongly and took the lead in the seventh minute from their third corner kick, which was taken by captain and Norwegian international Martin Ødegaard and headed by Gabriel, only for Everton's international goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to touch it with his fingertips, but it reached Konsa, who followed it into the net at the far post.

That was the first goal Arsenal has scored from a set-piece other than a penalty in all competitions this season, knowing that last season it gained a special reputation as one of the most dangerous teams in this aspect on its way to winning its first Premier League title in a generation.

Arsenal extended its lead when Gabriel rose and headed Ben White's cross into the net following an organized attack from the right side (68).

In the last ten minutes, Arteta brought on the promising Max Dowman, who in the same fixture last season became the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history.

It is Arsenal's seventh win in the first eight rounds, and it is also the fifth league win without conceding a goal.

Fulham continued its resurgence with a second consecutive win and its third this season when it defeated its host, newly promoted Coventry City, with a single goal scored by Norwegian Oscar Bobb with an individual effort (80).

The win eased the pressure on Fulham's Spanish coach Álvaro Arbeloa as the team climbed to twelfth place, moving away from the relegation zone.

Bundesliga

Leipzig shook off the dust of its humiliating 6-0 loss to leaders Bayern Munich and won 4-0 against Elversberg, participating for the first time among the elite clubs, yesterday, Saturday, in the seventh round of the German Football League.

Frenchman Tidiam Gomis (48), Brazilian Roccolo Cardoso (66 and 90+4), and Christoph Baumgartner (84) scored the goals.

Gomis, the 20-year-old young striker, had scored his team's consolation goal in the 1-4 loss to Spain's Real Madrid in the third round of the Champions League group stage, after the crushing 1-6 domestic loss to Bayern in the previous round.

Leipzig, which achieved its fourth win against three losses, raised its tally to 12 points in fifth place, ahead on goal difference of Werder Bremen, who won 3-2 against their host Mainz.

On the other hand, Elversberg's tally remained at 10 points in eighth place, tied with Mainz.

In the 2025-2026 season, Elversberg secured promotion to the first division for the first time in its history in the final round, by winning 3-0 against Preußen Münster, finishing in second place.

Elversberg has a population of only 13,000, making it the smallest club in the history of the "Bundesliga".

A brace by Niclas Füllkrug and a goal by Dutchman Ludovit Reis returned Bremen to the winning track by beating Mainz.

Füllkrug opened the scoring for Bremen from a penalty kick in the seventh minute, and doubled the lead in a similar scenario from the penalty spot in the 25th minute, while Frenchman Anthony Caci reduced the deficit for Mainz before the end of the first half (33).

Reis restored the two-goal lead in the second half (61), before South Korean Lee Jae-sung narrowed the gap (63).

Bremen had fallen into the trap of a draw in the previous two rounds against Borussia Dortmund and Paderborn with the same 2-2 result.

Paderborn reconciled with its fans by winning against its guest Hamburg with a late goal scored by Frenchman Ryan Philippe two minutes before the final whistle of regular time.

Paderborn had not tasted victory in its last two matches, losing at home to Stuttgart 0-2 and drawing away to Bremen 2-2, so it moved up to twelfth place with 8 points.

Augsburg drew 1-1 with its guest Union Berlin, who are in the penultimate place, in a match that saw the expulsion of the visitors' player Felix Uduokhai (19) and the hosts' Sierra Leonean Khoma Bah (63).

Cologne also drew goalless with its guest Schalke.

The round continues today, Sunday, as leaders Bayern Munich play their host Freiburg in the absence of the Bavarian giant's coach, Belgian Vincent Kompany, who suffered a health scare during a training session and was taken to the hospital.

Hoffenheim also faces Bayer Leverkusen.

Italian League

Como, the surprise of last season, continued its resurgence by winning 2-0 against its guest Sassuolo on Saturday in the eighth round of the Italian Football League.

The men of Spanish coach Cesc Fàbregas, who preferred to keep his playmaker, Argentine international Nico Paz, on the bench, waited until the second half to translate their dominance into two goals scored by Greek international striker Anastasios Douvikas in the 49th and 60th minutes.

It is Como's second consecutive win and fifth in the league this season, raising its tally to 17 points, moving up to fourth place temporarily, two points ahead of Milan, who visit Udinese on Sunday.

It is also Como's third consecutive win in all competitions after its big 4-1 victory over its guest, England's Manchester United, in the third round of the Champions League group stage, in its second victory in its first participation in the prestigious continental competition after the first against Germany's Leipzig, also 4-1, following a 2-3 loss to the Netherlands' Feyenoord.

On the other hand, Sassuolo suffered its fourth loss this season, leaving its tally at eight points, and it dropped to fourteenth place on goal difference behind Bologna, which regained its winning form with a valuable 2-0 victory over its host Cagliari, scored by Nicolò Casale (57) and Federico Bernardeschi (80 from a penalty kick).

Cagliari's tally remained at 13 points in eighth place with its third loss this season, against four wins and one draw.

On Sunday, Inter also meets Fiorentina, Genoa meets Venezia, Atalanta meets Frosinone, and Lecce meets Juventus.