"Best player in the league" – Player Ratings: Aston Villa 1-6 Manchester City (Premier League) | OneFootball

A supreme Manchester City put six goals past a struggling Aston Villa this evening, producing a performance reminiscent of the last two seasons of dominant Premier League football.

A ten-minute spurt of goals saw Riyad Mahrez score two, and Sergio Aguero fire home from 25 yards. Gabriel Jesus tapped home a magical cross from Kevin De Bruyne before half time, and sent City in at the break four goals to the good.

Sergio Aguero became the highest-scoring foreign player in Premier League history, after he added the fifth goal just before the hour mark. The Argentine completed his record-breaking twelfth league hat-trick ten minutes before full time. Ilkay Gundogan conceded a penalty late in the game, which Anwar El Ghazi converted with the last kick; another clean sheet lost.

Here’s how we rate the players following a brilliant display at Villa Park.

Ederson – 7

An average score, because he was totally untroubled for almost the entire game. He could have done very little about the penalty, which was very well placed by El Ghazi. It’s nice to see the Brazilian back in goal for City, though.

Benjamin Mendy – 7

He looked quite lively throughout the game and kept the ball well. Rarely was he caught out by Villa’s attackers, either.

John Stones – 7

Much like all of his defenders, he had very little to do besides control possession, which he did do very well.

Fernandinho – 7

Once again, difficult to assess on the basis that he’s had very little to do tonight. His habitual yellow card did appear, though.

João Cancelo – 7.5

Cancelo earns half a point more than is defensive companions, by way of his attacking threat throughout the game.

Rodri – 8.5

The Spaniard looked colossal at times, constantly fueling the machine-like performance from City’s midfield. He won the ball back plenty of times, and helped run our relentless attack throughout.

David Silva – 8.5

Silva served as the more delicate and dexterous counterpart to his fellow Spaniard, helping to create quite a few goals during the game.

Kevin De Bruyne – 9.5 (MOTM)

Brilliant. Only two assists on the night for De Bruyne, but the Belgian lit up the game once again and demonstrated why he is the best player in the Premier League.

Riyad Mahrez – 8.5

His first goal of the game was a real moment of magic – something that City have been missing in a lot of games this season. He was perhaps unlucky not to join Agüero on three goals, as well.

Gabriel Jesus – 8

As always, the Brazilian looked energetic and dangerous on the ball but also missed one or two good chances. Scored City’s fourth on the stroke of half-time, latching onto the beautiful De Bruyne pass.

Sergio Aguero – 9.5

Two records earned on the night were warranted by a great performance from Agüero – all of his hat-trick goals were brilliantly taken, from the opening rocket to his skilful, mazy run through the Aston Villa defence.

Substitutes

Phil Foden – 7

Moved the ball around well and nearly earned an assist.

Ilkay Gundogan – 5.5

Unfortunately, he did little more than give away a penalty for a lack of concentration.

Nicolás Otamendi – 6

The Argentine saw half an hour of football at the end of the game and didn’t need to do too much to stave off a frail Aston Villa side.

Follow us on Twitter for live updates: @City_Xtra

Follow the author here: @dannyldnr