How Rogers went from Man City prospect to Guardiola tormentor

After scoring Aston Villa’s second goal in a deserved Premier League win over Manchester City.

Morgan Rogers did the “shivering” celebration popularised. And potentially soon trademarked – by Chelsea’s Cole Palmer.

If you believe Rogers, however, he came up with the celebration. When he and Palmer were Manchester City academy team-mates.

Palmer and Rogers have more in common that just a celebration. Both were unable to break through at City, before finding Premier League fortune elsewhere.

While Palmer is a Premier League supernova at Chelsea, Rogers has been more of a slow burn.

But they share a deftness of touch, a directness of run, and the granite confidence to try the unusual and unexpected – allied with the skill to pull it off.

All that was on display at Villa Park on Saturday https://ufabet999.app as Rogers returned to haunt Pep Guardiola and send his former club to a sixth defeat in eight league games, while continuing to enhance his reputation.

So good was Rogers, Guardiola had to field questions at the post-match media conference as to why City allowed the winger to go.

“It was a team which won the treble and quadruple,” he said. “Sometimes it’s the right time.

“Everyone knows how good Morgan is. Sometimes they are two or three years younger and there is David Silva, Riyad [Mahrez], Raheem [Sterling].

“I’m happy for him, he is a lovely guy. England have an exceptional player.”

‘He has to add goals to his numbers’

Rogers doubled Villa’s lead with a smart low finish, having given the City defence the slip in the first half before speeding clear and unselfishly feeding Jhon Duran to open the scoring.

This was the first-ever Premier League game in which Rogers has both scored and assisted. It was his fourth strike of the season, and his eighth in 28 league matches for Villa.

Those are not prolific numbers, but this was another in a line of matches. Where Rogers has given more than the stats suggested.

Clearly he has the trust of manager Unai Emery, who has started him in every league game this season, and both player and coach think he is capable of more.