Jadon Sancho was substituted on during Aston Villa’s match against Manchester City on Sunday but the winger did not have the impact he’d have hoped for
Tom Victor and Will Jenkins
18:00, 26 Oct 2025
Aston Villa’s loanee Jadon Sancho was brought on in the first half against Manchester City on Sunday, only to be taken off after just 45 minutes on the pitch.
The winger came on for the injured Emi Buendia during the opening period, but was replaced by Evann Guessand 16 minutes from time as part of a double substitution.
Since his late summer loan move from Manchester United, Sancho has seen limited game time. Prior to facing City, he had made just one substitute appearance in the league, although he did start in the midweek Europa League defeat against Go Ahead Eagles.
The 25-year-old recently returned from illness, with his game in the Netherlands marking his first since a period out. However, Unai Emery didn’t seem particularly impressed with his performance against City, opting instead to bring on fellow summer signing Guessand to help close out the match.
Sancho did have a chance at goal shortly before being substituted. He made a neat break from the left, forcing a save from Gianluigi Donnarumma, and his subsequent attempt was also thwarted by the City goalkeeper.
Villa were leading 1-0 when Sancho came on, thanks to an early goal from Matty Cash. The score remained the same when the winger was substituted, as Villa sought to disrupt their rivals’ title bid.
A late loss to City towards the end of last season hampered Villa’s Champions League qualification hopes, but Emery knew that a victory on Sunday could inflict a similar setback on Pep Guardiola’s side.
City believed they had salvaged a point late on when Erling Haaland bundled the ball over the line, but the strike was chalked off for offside in the build-up.
When the six minutes of stoppage time elapsed, Cash’s first-half effort proved sufficient for a home victory for Villa. Guardiola’s side remained fourth in the standings when the final whistle sounded, but their position is precarious.
Villa sit just one point adrift of them, whilst Tottenham had an opportunity to overtake City by defeating Everton in Sunday’s late fixture.
In September, Emery outlined his ambitions for Sancho. “Yes, of course, this is my objective, to get him back to his best – and if he does that, then he’ll come back to the national team,” the Spaniard said.
“Every player wants to be part of the national team. When he was in Borussia Dortmund, he performed fantastic. And he played with the national team 25 matches, more or less.
“Of course, he’s still young. He’s still being hungry to show his capacity to play with his skills, his qualities, and hopefully we can exploit here, again, his best.”
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2025-10-26 18:00:48
