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72 min: Kovacic slips a ball down the inside-left channel for O’Reilly, who slips as he enters the box but doesn’t make any fuss about a potential penalty.
71 min: Gvardiol is booked for a clumsy late swipe at Tielemans.
70 min: O’Reilly is some prospect. He’s been involved in six goals in his last six games, scoring four and setting up two. Not bad when you consider the 20-year-old has played a grand total of 14 first-class matches to date.
68 min: City are rapping at the Villa door, and O’Reilly is causing all sorts of bother. Another low cross leads to panic in the Villa defence, and the ball’s sent out for the umpteenth corner of the second half. From De Bruyne’s deliver, Gvardiol clanks a header over.
66 min: O’Reilly crosses low from the left. McAtee gets in ahead of Torres, only to fresh-air swipe from six yards. Martinez claims. “Weighing into the ticket price issue, I’ve done some nerdy research,” reports Pete Moxon. “When I started going to Villa Park (1976) it was a quid for my Dad and 50p for me. According to the Bank of England inflation calculator, that’s £6.65 for an adult ticket in today’s money. If it had cost what it does now (ten times more), I might have gone as a birthday treat. Certainly not a weekly father-and-son ritual.”
65 min: Marmoush wriggles down the inside-left channel but can’t get the better of Kamara and eventually concedes a foul. The crowd, still smarting at the perceived injustice of the correctly awarded penalty, seethe in the pantomime style.
63 min: Kovacic meets a half-cleared free kick by shooting from distance through a packed box. Martinez claims. Villa counter, Rashford tearing free down the right, rounding Dias and Ortega on the right, but slamming his shot into the side netting. It was an extremely tight angle. Both teams creating chances again.
62 min: McGinn and Disasi come on for Ramsey and Cash.
60 min: With everyone expecting Tielemans to cross towards the far stick, Ramsey makes a dummy run down the inside-right channel. Tielemans tries to find him but slaps the ball straight into the nearest defender. But he snags the rebound and dribbles his way into the box down the channel. Fine improvisation, but his cutback is easily cleared. City break quickly, and suddenly McAtee latches onto a bouncing ball down the left. Martinez is in no-man’s land. McAtee lobs the keeper, but the shot sails wide right of the unguarded net. End-to-end entertainment!
59 min: Rogers shimmies in from the right and is clipped by Gvardiol. Free kick, and a chance for everyone to line up along the edge of the City penalty box. Tielemans to take.
Josko Gvardiol battles for the ball with Morgan Rogers. Photograph: Marc Atkins/AVFC/Aston Villa FC/Getty Images
58 min: De Bruyne, the old boy covering the hard yards this evening, trots across to take the corner from the left. Martinez snaffles this one without fuss. Villa haven’t got going since the restart. Ollie Watkins soon?
57 min: Digne concedes a cheap corner, which De Bruyne swings in from the right. Dias meets it with a volley, six yards out. It’s deflected wide right. The next corner is deflected wide left. Another corner coming up, City’s sixth of the second half. Villa being pinned back here.
55 min: Nunes slips De Bruyne into space down the right. De Bruyne loops it long. At the far stick, Cash heads out backwards from of his six-yard area towards O’Reilly, who shanks a volley well wide left. The hosts have been the better side since the restart.
53 min: Martinez releases the ball. From behind, as everyone empties the box, Gundogan gives the keeper a cheeky clip upside the head. Martinez goes down. He’s not happy. The ref tells him to get up, while Gundogan has a furtive giggle with De Bruyne.
52 min: One corner leads to another, then another, and finally Martinez claims.
51 min: McAtee sends the free kick into the box, a sensational outswinger to the far stick. Gvardiol prepares to slam home from six yards only for Onana to extend a leg and divert it wide right for a corner. That’s wonderful play all round.
50 min: O’Reilly drives down the left, holding off Rogers all the way. He sashays infield and is tugged back one too many times by Rogers. Over he goes for the free kick, while Rogers goes into the book.
48 min: Marmoush is constantly in motion, a class act. He bustles down the inside-left channel and nearly manages to release O’Reilly into the Villa box, but the final ball doesn’t quite come off.
47 min: Rogers chases a long ball down the middle. Gvardiol comes across to put a stop to his gallop? Illegally? Rogers thinks so, but the referee doesn’t. “£292!” splutters Zach Neeley. “That’s $400 here in the states, where we need all of it to pay for things under our “shoot ourselves in the foot” trade policy. Are there not what we would call nosebleed seats in the premiere league? In my younger days I used to hike to a vertigo inducing top row of the local basketball arena (our version of the Spurs, Victor Wembanyama could probably high five me up there) and didn’t feel like I wasn’t going to fall off the earth til I’d had a beer, but it was cheap.”
City get the second half underway. No changes.
Matty Cash in action against Omar Marmoush as the second half gets underway. Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA
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The scoreline seems about right on the balance of play. A very entertaining game between two progressive, easy-on-the-eye sides. Well worth £292 for a family of four.
45 min +4: Rashford tries to bring the ball down on the edge of the City D. He can’t get it under enough control to shoot. Kovacic comes across, hangs out a leg and shoves him over, but the referee’s not interested in blowing for a foul. Rashford’s turn to look perplexed.
45 min +2: McAtee curls in from the right but Marmoush, haring along the opposite channel, can’t bring it down. Goal kick.
45 min: There will be four additional minutes.
44 min: Martinez passes out from the back, beating the high City press. Digne advances down the left and wins a corner. From the set piece, Onana wins a header and powers it goalwa … no, it’s heading wide from close range. A bad miss, and the ball clatters into poor O’Reilly’s startled mug. City clear their lines, the whistle goes for a foul on a defender, and O’Reilly shakes his head briskly to recover. Villa finishing this half strongly.
42 min: Rashford’s dismal delivery fails to beat the first man, and City launch a counter attack. Marmoush accelerates down the left, drifts infield, and looks to have been dragged back by Rashford. It should be a free kick and a booking, but the referee waves play on. The City fans not happy. Marmoush not best pleased either.
41 min: Marmoush skittles Tielemans out on the Villa right. A free kick and a chance for the visitors to load the box. Rashford to take.
39 min: Digne loops a pass down the inside-left channel for Rashford to chase. Rashford gets ahead of Dias as he enters the box, but can’t connect with the bouncing ball as he tries to steer it past Ortega.
38 min: Kovacic, under no pressure whatsoever in the centre circle, sends a pass whistling into the stand to the left. On the touchline, a disbelieving Pep holds his head in his hands.
37 min: O’Reilly whips a cross in from the left. Marmoush heads over from six yards. Lovely movement to get in between, and ahead of, Torres and Konsa, but he should have done better with his header. That was a great chance.
35 min: De Bruyne passes out from the back. Digne arrives way late, clips his toe, and goes into the book. He can’t have any complaints about that.
34 min: De Bruyne drops deep and quarterbacks a glorious diagonal pass towards Marmoush out on the left. Just a little too much juice on the ball. Goal kick. Marmoush nearly got to that, though, and had he done so, Villa were in a wee bit of bother.
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