Jack Grealish could not hide his delight with one of his former teammates after Aston Villa boosted Manchester City's title chances.

The Villans beat Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates to give Man City the upper hand in the Premier League title race, and Grealish took to social media to display his gratitude to his old club.

Ollie Watkins secured victory for Villa as he struck in the 87th-minute after Leon Bailey gave them the lead, with the win keeping City top of the table ahead of Mikel Arteta's side, having leapfrogged the Gunners a day before with a 5-1 demolition of Luton.

After the match, Watkins celebrated the result by posting a series of photos from the game, alongside the caption: "A lot of people doubting me this year, I only use it as motivation.”

And the England striker's actions went down a treat with Sky Blues star Grealish, who showed his appreciation for his former side's top scorer in the comments section.

The ex Villa captain replied to Watkins' post with two top emojis and a sky-blue heart, appearing to acknowledge his international teammate's contribution to City's title bid.

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This was not the striker's only role in the post-match drama, as he also fired a cheeky response to talkSPORT's Troy Deeney on his Instagram story, after he had previously said he was 'unconvinced' by Watkins.

It is no surprise that Grealish was in a jubilant mood after the day's events, as his team had enjoyed a comfortable victory before watching both of their title rivals drop points.

Having sat third in the table heading into the weekend, the defending champions opened up a two-point gap over Arsenal and Liverpool with their thrashing of Luton in the Saturday fixture.

Second-half goals from Mateo Kovacic, Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Josko Gvardiol on top of an early own-goal from Daiki Hashioka meant that City were able to watch with joy as Liverpool suffered a shock 1-0 home defeat to Crystal Palace the next day.

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