Enzo Maresca believes Manchester City were unfortunate not to win against Aston Villa on Saturday, believing his side "sometimes have to be more lucky." 

City were handed their first defeat of the Premier League season, ending their perfect start, as Nicolas Jackson's brace condemned them to a 2-1 loss at Villa Park. 

Jackson smartly capitalised on some very sloppy Man City defending in both of his goals, first making the most of Marc Guehi's cheap turnover in the sixth minute, before then seeing his reared shot squeeze past Gianluigi Donnarumma. 

Erling Haaland sparked the possibility of a comeback as he levelled the scoreline in the 52nd minute, while Josko Gvardiol saw a good effort parried onto the crossbar as City looked to keep their strong start going. 

“When we scored, I had the feeling the entire game we were in control," Maresca told BBC Match of the Day. 

"We created many chances but sometimes we have to be more lucky. We considered just one transition the entire second half and unfortunately, they score. 

"We struggled the first probably 10-15 minutes and we expected them in one way and they were in a different way. We adjusted and controlled the game. 

“Even for us it was a good game, performance. Unfortunately, we lost but overall we did enough to deserve something more. We’ll learn from it and move on." 

Enzo  (On defeat against Aston Villa) I think we deserved more from the game for the amount of chances that we created and for the chances we conceded. We need to review the game. For sure when you see the amount of time we spent in their box, sometimes you probably need to be a little bit more accurate in the last third and try to score goals.

— Manchester City (@ManCity) October 24, 2026

City were largely architects of their own downfall, though. Since the start of last season, only Jan Paul van Hecke (four) has made more errors leading to goals among Premier League outfield players than Guehi's three. 

Donnarumma, meanwhile, has made three errors directly leading to goals in the competition since joining City last season, with only Bart Verbruggen (five) and Robin Roefs (four) committing more in that time among goalkeepers. 

Moreover, having conceded just eight goals in their opening nine matches of the season across competitions, Maresca's side have now shipped nine in their last four outings. 

In all, Saturday's defeat means three of City's last five Premier League losses have come at the hands of Villa, while they have lost four consecutive away league games against the same opponent for the first time since February 2023 against Tottenham.