Aston Villa 4 Man City 2: Gabriel Agbonlahor bounced back from his England snub with an eight minute hat-trick as Aston Villa made light work of Mark Hughes' side in their Premier League opener at Villa Park.

Agbonlahor was left out of the squad by Fabio Capello for Wednesday's friendly with the Czech Republic but took out any disappointment he may have been feeling on City in devastating fashion.

It was also a perfect way for Agbonlahor to celebrate after signing a new four-year contract with Villa on Thursday.

His Villa team-mate Ashley Young, overlooked as well by Capello, was also in impressive form as he laid on two goals in an impressive all-round display by Martin O'Neill's side.

They attacked with great purpose with John Carew dominating in the air and City only briefly threatened after a defensive mix-up handed them a penalty converted by Elano.

It was another blow after the shock Uefa Cup reversal by Danish side FC Midtjylland on Thursday.

Little went right for City after they suffered a pre-match setback when striker Valeri Bojinov was injured in the warm-up and he was replaced by 19-year-old Ched Evans with Felipe Caicedo being drafted in as a substitute.

Villa made a promising start with Carew causing plenty of problems in the air — and the Norway international twice went close to breaking the deadlock.

City threatened for the first time when Kelvin Etuhu went past Nicky Shorey on the outside before firing a low attempt across the face of Brad Friedel's goal with no-one able to apply a finishing touch.

Villa needed only two minutes of the second period to break the deadlock through Carew — last season's top marksman with 13 goals.

Barry found Ashley Young in space on the left flank and the winger sent over the kind of pinpoint cross which Carew thrives on as he sent a powerful header past Hart from six-yards out.

A mix-up between Luke Young and Shorey presented City with an equaliser after 63 minutes. There appeared to be little danger but the two new full-backs hesitated and let in Michael Johnson who was eventually brought down by Young. Referee Phil Dowd immediately pointed to the penalty spot and Elano sent Friedel the wrong way from the spot.

Villa needed only five minutes to regain the lead through Agbonlahor. An Ashley Young corner was turned back across goal by Curtis Davies to Agbonlahor who beat Hart with a right-foot volley and within five minutes Agbonlahor had struck again to double Villa's lead.

Young picked out the overlapping Barry and his cross was headed home by the England Under-21 player.

In the 76th minute Agbonlahor completed his first senior hat-trick when he raced onto a Barry through-ball and clipped the ball past Hart.

Corluka scored an 89th minute consolation goal for City but they were well beaten by the final whistle.