Nunes side-footed home at the back post after being found by a brilliant outside-of-the-boot pass from Jeremy Doku deep into stoppage-time, as Pep Guardiola's side made its sustained second-half pressure count.

Marcus Rashford had earlier rattled the post inside 18 seconds after cleverly skipping past Ruben Dias, but it was Bernardo Silva who broke the deadlock, forcing an Emiliano Martinez blunder in the seventh minute.

Rashford soon equalised, calmly converting from the penalty spot after Dias clipped Jacob Ramsey inside the box, with the spot-kick awarded after a video assistant referee (VAR) check.

City upped the ante in the second half with Omar Marmoush picking out the bottom-left corner to perfection, only to be flagged offside after Rashford squandered a fair few good chances, including two excellent opportunities in behind the City defence.

Villa's defence could not hold firm through five minutes of stoppage-time, though, with Nunes sealing the win in dramatic fashion.

The result takes City up to third on the Premier League table, one point clear of fourth-placed Nottingham Forest and two ahead of Newcastle United in fifth.

Despite the win, City manager Pep Guardiola insisted his side's season has been bad, regardless of whether it seals UEFA Champions League qualification or wins the FA Cup.

“The team fought a lot. The performance was really good. This is a fantastic team. But the season has been bad. It doesn't matter about the [FA Cup] final or if we finish in [the UEFA] Champions League.”

But Guardiola accepted that it is normal for teams to suffer poor seasons.

“The reality is what makes you feel good is [winning] the Premier League," he said.

“But it happens, sometimes you have bad seasons. Liverpool will be champions, and the level of teams is outstanding."

Ruben Dias echoed his manager’s sentiments, emphasising that the Premier League is the club’s biggest priority.

“They are on the run with us to this top five and it was a special game to get the three points,” the Portuguese said.

“There’s four games to go and all of them will be massively important. It was important today to get the three points.

“We know how tight it is and how tight it's going to be till the end. This is a massive step for us.

“It means everything to us. We know exactly the circumstances we are in. Top four and top five means everything to us. This is our Premier League.”

Villa, meanwhile, stays in seventh place, two points off the top five and four off City with four games remaining.

Manager Unai Emery urged his players not to dwell on this result.

“We can't waste time, we lost in the last minute of this match, but we competed well. We were close to drawing,” he said.

“We were trying to win the match as well with our substitutes, but they do the same and they score.

“Over 90 minutes they dominated more, but we played a good competitive match.”

Emery stressed the importance of taking positives from the performance.

“I take a lot of positive things and now is a moment to be positive. I'm going to analyse the match and try get a lot of information from it," he added.

“We can't waste time now, we have to keep going.

“We want to try keep the level that we're achieving and try to be demanding in our way so we can build ourselves up, to be stronger in everything.

“Tomorrow, we will rest. Thursday and Friday, we'll be positive and work hard to prepare for the game against Crystal Palace.”

Villa will now turn their focus to the FA Cup semi-final against Palace at the weekend, before returning to Premier League action at home to Fulham the subsequent weekend.