Manchester City’s perfect start to the Premier League season came to an end as Aston Villa exposed weaknesses in Enzo Maresca’s side and secured victory in Birmingham.

The result gives Arsenal an opportunity to close the gap on Manchester City at the top of the table, while three players in the visitors’ line-up stood out for the wrong reasons.

Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marc Guehi and Rayan Cherki were all rated among the main contributors to the defeat. Player ratings began at 6.0 before kick-off, with the maximum possible score set at 10.

Marc Guehi – 3.0

Guehi was Manchester City’s weakest defender and was replaced at half-time. His early mistake proved costly when he gave the ball away in his own half to John McGinn, who supplied Nicolas Jackson for Aston Villa’s opening goal.

The error came despite Guehi having had a similar experience with his national team only a month earlier. On that occasion, he presented the ball to Lamine Yamal in the opening minutes and Spain went on to take the lead.

Jackson also created further problems for Guehi. The defender was booked for a foul on the forward just outside his own penalty area. On another occasion, Guehi was fortunate that Jackson chose not to take him on in a one-on-one situation and instead attempted an inaccurate long-range shot.

Rayan Cherki – 3.0

Cherki was also taken off at the interval, a change that reflected his difficult afternoon. The attacking midfielder was unable to reproduce the confidence and technical freedom he had shown in the Champions League against AEK on Tuesday.

His flicks, combinations and runs that had worked in that match were largely ineffective against Aston Villa. The Birmingham side competed aggressively and won four of the five duels involving Cherki, while also preventing him from finding space for his more inventive touches.

The Frenchman did have one opportunity after Doku created the opening for him, but Cherki’s shot lacked power and was comfortably dealt with by Suzuki. He was also shown a yellow card after losing possession in a careless manner and then committing a foul to stop an Aston Villa attack.

Gianluigi Donnarumma – 2.0

Donnarumma’s afternoon began poorly when he held on to the ball for too long before a restart, allowing the referee to award Aston Villa a corner.

The goalkeeper was then beaten at his near post, with the ball going over him and into the net in a manner reminiscent of his former Paris St-Germain team-mate Matvey Safonov.

His most obvious mistake came for Jackson’s second goal. Donnarumma should have held a shot from 16 metres but instead parried it into his own net. He finished the match without making a save, while every Aston Villa effort on target resulted in a goal.