​Garde buoyed by Villa performance in first mat

They changed their system. Kolarov has a shot from a tight angle inside the box as Sterling lays off a pass to him, and his effort is scooped behind by Guzan. Now there was often frantic recovery defending as Navas and Sterling found room to operate out wide.

Striker Wilfried Bony limped off after 25 minutes with a hamstring injury.

Delph angered fans when he abruptly quit Villa Park in July just weeks after issuing a strong statement pledging his future to the midlands outfit. From that point, Man City lost their cutting edge. Regarding the way I left Lyon, I said to the chairman I wanted to stay honest. We played very well.

Garde arrives at Villa needing to fix things very quickly. Fernando gets a thunderous header towards goal from just six yards out, and it crashes against the bar.

It meant the focus switched to the summer additions.

Arguably the biggest weakness that Aston Villa have struggled with this season has been facing well-rounded attacking midfielders.

He helped protect the defence and mucked in at the back when the hosts were under serious second-half pressure.

Aston Villa and Manchester City have confirmed their starting line-ups for their Premier League clash on Sunday afternoon, per the club’s respective Twitter accounts. Guzan was brilliant a minute later to anticipate a Sterling header to a Jesus Navas cross that created a point-blank chance.

Guzan spread himself and the ball cannoned off the keeper’s nose and over the bar.

They played a few patient football in an even first half, occasionally threatening the City goal, and defended with great determination as City later began to dominate.

“I hope Sergio, Samir Nasri and Pablo Zabaleta will do their last work with the physio and next Monday will start working with the squad”, he said.

Manuel Pellegrini will be wondering why it took 45 minutes for his side to find top gear, although they were frustrated at every turn.

“The difference between the two teams before was huge”, the former Arsenal and France midfielder explained.

“Today was a good occasion to do it. City were full of confidence after a brilliant, brilliant game in Sevilla (Pellegrini’s men won 3-1 in the Champions League in Spain in midweek) which is quite a good team as well”. He has something to build on in Birmingham.

“I am expecting him to delay one week more”, said Pellegrini, jokingly, when asked about Garde’s likely impact.

Richards told Sky Sports: “We have been playing well”.

Substitute Rudy Gestede nearly scored a victor from a controversially-earned corner but, with City dominating the second half, Villa had to show their grit. Two or three times we were very unlucky.