U21s: Manchester City 4-1 Aston Villa

Aston Villa fell to a 4-1 defeat against Manchester City in Premier League 2 on Friday night.

The hosts raced into a three-goal lead before the break, with Emilio Lawrence, Farid Alfa-Ruprecht and Will Dickson on target during the first half at the Joie Stadium.

Kobei Moore reduced the arrears in the 72^nd minute but substitute Justin Oboavwoduo added a fourth for City in the latter stages.

The Young Lions will be looking to get back on track when they face Bayern Munich in the UEFA Youth League on Wednesday afternoon.

Villa started well and Kadan Young, having made his first-team debut in Tuesday’s Carabao victory at Wycombe Wanderers, fired a right-footed effort against a post after just five minutes.

Todd Alcock and Triston Rowe both threatened in the final third as Moore also headed just over the crossbar for the impressive visitors.

But it was City who opened the scoring in the 18^th minute as Lawrence applied a well-taken finish into the bottom corner.

And the home side doubled their lead shortly afterwards as Alfa-Ruprecht converted from close range, before Dickson added a third in the 36^th minute to leave Villa facing a three-goal deficit at the interval.

Kane Taylor fired wide just before the hour mark as Villa, enjoying a spell of dominance, looked for a route back into the encounter.

And they got it with 18 minutes remaining as Moore fired home a rebound from City goalkeeper Jack Wint’s parried save.

Taylor then saw his strike blocked before City ended any hopes of a fightback as Oboavwoduo converted from the edge of the penalty area in the 85^th minute.

Moore again went close late on for Villa but they were left to taste defeat in the PL2 encounter, with Josep Gombau’s side having collected seven points from their opening five league matches of the campaign.