Aston Villa 0-2 Manchester City - Yaya answers his critics

Yaya Toure finally opened his account on Saturday

Manchester City were made to wait by Aston Villa but they eventually broke down the home side and took home the three points.

Yaya Toure responded to his critics with the breakthrough goal as Manchester City battled for a 2-0 win over Aston Villa at Villa Park.

Fresh from back-to-back defeats to Arsenal and Chelsea it was the last of a tough triple-header for Villa as they played host to City on Saturday night.

With memories fresh in the mind of last year's dramatic 3-2 victory over the same opponents which was built on roaring pace on the counter-attack, it was a blow for Paul Lambert to lose Gabriel Agbonlahor to illness in the warm-up.

A hasty reshuffle saw Andreas Weimann start on his own up front but, for all his hard work, the Austrian cannot run defenders away and, with Vincent Kompany at his imperious best, it was a thankless task.

City dominated in the early stages and David Silva was able to collect the balls in pockets of space between the lines to wreak havoc with the Villa defence.

The first real shot in anger arrived on 10 minutes as Aleksandar Kolarov unleashed a trademark left-foot thunderbolt that clipped Alan Hutton and rattled back off the post.

That seemed to spark the City strikers into life but it was a frustrating first half for both Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko as they failed to get the ball to sit for them at the vital moment, with Philippe Senderos and Nathan Baker throwing themselves in the way. The closest either came was on the half-hour mark when Aguero glanced a looping header from Kolarov's cross a fraction wide of the far post.

It appeared that the Argentine's frustrations would continue throughout the second half when he struck the inside of the post within seconds of the restart.

Chances continued to come and go for Aguero but even when he beat Senderos, Baker and the post, he found Brad Guzan in inspired form between the sticks for the hosts.

As the visitors toiled in attack the Villans began to make an impact of their own on the break. Lambert was even able to give Christian Benteke his first action in six months in the final half hour to give City something different to think about. For about 10 minutes the hosts' midfield of Fabian Delph, Tom Cleverley and Ashley Westwood were in charge as the home fans grew in belief.

However, Manuel Pellegrini spotted the danger and brought off Dzeko to add the defensive capabilities of Fernando to the midfield to allow Yaya Toure licence to push forward from midfield and it paid huge dividends just eight minutes from time.

With the Villa defence tiring they were unable to push out and Toure drove towards the edge of the box before curling a superb left-foot finish around Senderos and into the corner of the net. Huge relief for City and huge disappointment for the hosts who were just beginning to believe they were heading for a point.

The clincher arrived with two minutes left on the clock and it also brought to an end Aguero's frustrating night with a smile. Jesus Navas drove down the right and when he fed the ball into the edge of the box, Aguero steadied himself to fire a powerful drive beyond the diving Guzan.

The result brings a tough couple of weeks to an end for Lambert's side who will be grateful for the international break that now comes to give them a chance to regroup.

For City it is a much-needed clean sheet and a hard-fought victory that might just kick-start their chase for the title.