Analysis: Man City 2-1 Aston Villa
- Published
When you are as expressive on the touchline as Pep Guardiola, visual evidence can be enough to gauge the importance of an occasion.
Make no mistake, this win was big.
"You don't have to be a scientist to realise that we were playing against Aston Villa, one of the best teams, as you saw against Newcastle and PSG," said Guardiola. "They are an extraordinary team but we performed as we did in the past with the commitment.
"Qualification for the Champions League is important, of course, but sometimes we have to be calm. We must focus on the semi-final and after, we have days to prepare for the four 'finals'. Two at home, two away."
This starts with Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.
In Guardiola's mind, it is all so clear. It is why detached observers are led to the conclusion City's football is regimented.
Yet the reality is Guardiola is making subtle tweaks as the season goes on.
He accepts what he has now is not what even he expected when the campaign began, when Rodri and Erling Haaland were available.
No-one would have predicted Saturday's hero at Everton would be 20-year-old Nico O'Reilly, making his fourth league start. Against Villa it would be Matheus Nunes.
It's another puzzle solved for Guardiola. Another solution found.
It will be fascinating now to see if City can keep alive their hopes of domestic silverware alive.
They have failed to win at least one trophy only three times since they won the FA Cup in 2011 to end their long wait for success.
Since Guardiola's first season in 2016-17, City have always won at least one of the three domestic competitions on offer.