City 3 - 2 Aston Villa: What Did We Learn?

City, in spite of their best efforts to give the match away, managed to pull a 3-2 win out in the last few minutes over Aston Villa. It was a game that featured some mistakes on both sides, and some nice moments by both City and Villa as well. Here are a few takeaways from the match.

1. Brad Guzan, and the death of American exceptionalism

During the 2014 World Cup, anyone who was previously unaware of Tim Howard's ability to stop people from scoring goals against the United States was made aware by his unbelievable display against Belgium in the round of 16. Now that he's moved on from international competition, let's take a look at what American soccer fans have to look forward to.

Oh, good. Looks like we're in good hands then.

In all seriousness, Brad Guzan is a solid keeper who has done well to limit the damage against City in the past, and it was painful to watch him make a mistake like this. Not that it was upsetting to see City take an early lead, something that has been a rarity in 2015. That was just fine.

2. This isn't how walls work

Aleksander Kolarov put in a nice little free kick to make the game 2-0, with a little help from a noticeable hole in the Aston Villa wall.

Let's have a closer look at the Villa wall, which really was a thing of beauty.

Oh, this team may be relegated this season? You don't say.

3. City still gonna City

After scoring two goals that were both the result of errors from Villa, City proceeded to give the game right back to the relegation candidates, letting Villa tie things up at 2-2 with only a few minutes left. Their defensive strategy for the final half hour of the match seemed to be "let the ball ping around the penalty area for a while and see what happens." In the event that this was in fact their strategy, they executed it to perfection, nearly giving away two points in the process.

4. Fernandinho the hero

If you had to guess which City player would score a game winner for the club on a given day, how many players would have their name mentioned before Fernandinho? Either way, he did a great job of keeping his composure and smashing it in out of midair in a spot where plenty of players surely would have sent the ball miles over the target. This was the only City goal of the day that wasn't the direct result of a mental lapse by Villa, and what a goal it was.

5. Maybe this is a top two team?

With two straight wins under City's collective belt, worries about the team dropping out of the top four have been quieted, but focus now may be on finishing in the top two yet again. The win put City second on 67 points, a point ahead of Arsenal for that position in the table. While Arsenal have two games in hand on City, one of those comes today against champions to be Chelsea, so you never know what the Gunners will make of their extra fixtures.

It was a fascinating game and, thankfully, a job done for City. Your takeaways below.