Nicolas Jackson scored twice to give Aston Villa a 2-1 win over Manchester City this past weekend, ending City’s perfect start to the Premier League season and lifting Villa up the table after a slow start.
The opener arrived inside six minutes when Jackson cut inside Elliot Anderson and finished past Gianluigi Donnarumma after John McGinn had pounced on a Marc Guéhi error. He later led a one-man counter from inside Villa’s half but shot wide as the move broke down.
City levelled soon after the interval through Erling Haaland, but Jackson restored Villa’s advantage on the hour mark. After exchanging passes with Ibrahim Mbaye, he continued his run and drove the ball beneath Donnarumma. The goalkeeper was criticized in the report for not doing better, but the goal still required Jackson to ghost in with a smart run and open his body to take the shot.
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery credited Jackson’s development and work ethic, noting improvement in his finishing and tactical play. Emery said the forward had been “shooting a lot of balls over the crossbar” earlier in the season and added that Jackson was “mature, experienced, confident, and is very demanding of himself to improve things.” He praised both Jackson’s shooting and his tactical work, describing it as “fantastic.”
Emery emphasised the role Jackson is asked to fulfil: lead the press, stretch the defence and attack space in behind. Jackson pressed from wide areas while teammates Johan Manzambi and John McGinn pressured the centrebacks. His runs between Guéhi and Abdukodir Khusanov helped keep City’s backline unsure whether to step up or drop off, which limited City’s build-up and opened space for Villa’s other attackers.
Emery, who oversaw an earlier stage of Jackson’s development at Villarreal, gave him his La Liga debut in October 2021. Jackson hit 12 league goals in the 2022-23 season; the double against City brought him to four goals in his last four league outings and added to three Champions League goals, including a double in a 6-0 win.
