Man City will struggle to win title with Donnarumma and Guéhi errors

Pulse Sports Team 08:55 - 25 October 2026

Manchester City's winning start to the Premier League season came to an abrupt halt against Aston Villa, leaving manager Enzo Maresca with pressing defensive issues to resolve.

Nicolas Jackson's brace in Villa's 2-1 home victory means City have managed just a single clean sheet across their last six matches. The form of goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and defender Marc Guéhi is particularly alarming. Since the start of last season, only eight Premier League players have made more direct errors leading to opposition goals than Donnarumma and Guéhi, who have committed three each.

City last kept a clean sheet in their impressive win over Liverpool a fortnight ago. However, on either side of that triumph, they have conceded against opponents of every caliber — from Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain to relegation-threatened Sunderland. Maresca was forced to experiment with various defensive combinations against Villa, but as the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson famously put it: "Attack wins you games, defence wins you titles."

Although it is still early in the campaign and City will remain in the top two by the end of the weekend, they must tighten up defensively to stay in contention. In contrast, title rivals Arsenal went level on points at the top of the table later in the day following a convincing 2-0 home victory over Everton.

The Gunners have conceded just five goals in eight matches, with centre-backs Ezri Konsa and Gabriel providing the goals on Saturday. That marked a second consecutive Premier League shutout for Mikel Arteta's side, who are still awaiting the return of key central defender William Saliba.