The inconvenient Invincibles are no more. After their 114 guilty verdicts, Manchester City ’s 100 per cent record looked an embarrassment for the Premier League as much as an achievement by Enzo Maresca . As City suffered a different sort of defeat, one which owed less to the shortcomings of their expensive lawyers than to the mistakes of a highly-paid defender and goalkeeper, Unai Emery showed there are ways of halting them even before any potential punishments are applied.

The points deduction here came in the form of the three that instead, and deservedly, went to Emery’s excellent Aston Villa , who harried City to distraction. “Manchester City is the best team in the league until now and one of the best teams in the world,” said Emery.…