Manchester City held on for a 1-1 draw at Aston Villa, a result that means they will spend Christmas in the Premier League's top four.

Both goals came in the first 15 minutes, with John Carew cancelling out Rolando Bianchi's opener for the visitors.

City had to withstand a late barrage from Martin O'Neill's side, who have now gone four matches without victory.

Sven-Goran Eriksson's defensive substitutions almost cost his side as they dropped deeper and deeper, in a display reminiscent of the Swede's time in charge of England.

City went in front on 11 minutes after an incisive counter-attack. Elano found Martin Petrov in acres of space on the left wing.

The Bulgarian had time to pick out his man and found Bianchi, who peeled away from Martin Laursen and finished from close range.

Villa, who had hardly entered the opposition's final third before then, were stung into immediate action.

Nigel Reo-Coker found Carew with a long ball, and the giant striker turned Micah Richards, held off two men and bundled past Scott Carson.

Earlier in the week, Eriksson named Joe Hart as his first-choice goalkeeper ahead of Swedish international Andreas Isaksson.

He might have been reconsidering that decision after an uncertain display by Hart.

Despite being blameless for the goal, the England Under-21 man repeatedly flapped at crosses, twice coming close to costing his side.

His failure to reach a corner from the Villa right resulted in Laursen having a header cleared off the line.

Shortly afterwards, Hart missed a corner from the other side entirely but Gabriel Agbonlahor saw his weak volley cleared off the line by Elano, although Villa claimed the ball had crossed into the goal.

Hart partly redeemed himself for those earlier errors just after the half-hour, when he sprang to his right to palm a Carew half-volley onto the post.

The first 25 minutes of the second half proved a snooze, with City playmaker Elano in particularly disappointing form.

Things only got interesting when Eriksson started to tinker, bringing on defenders Vedran Corluka and Javier Garrido for Didier Hamann and Elano as the visitors sat back and invited pressure.

Carew cut inside from the left flank and shifted the ball perfectly onto his right foot but shanked his shot badly wide.

At the other end, Petrov should have done better with a close-range volley only the break, but Villa were soon back on the offensive.

Reo-Coker and Agbonlahor found themselves two-on-one after City lost possession, but Reo-Coker dawdled and Michael Ball made a fine saving tackle.

Then Agbonlahor was released over the top and Hart had to race out of his area to block the shot. Villa continued to pour forward but they failed to find a knockout blow.

December has been a cruel month for O'Neill's side, who still have to play Chelsea and Wigan before they can look forward to 2008.

Alex Chick / Eurosport