The Manchester Derby went City’s way, as they opened up an 11-point gap at the top of the Premier League table after beating United 2-1 at Old Trafford.
José Mourinho went with an attacking line-up for the noisy neighbours’ visit, with Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial all starting, but it was City who dominated most of the game and came away with the deserved three points, with the Reds not at the races.
City’s breakthrough came three minutes before half-time, as David Silva scrambled home the ball after it had ricocheted off Romelu Lukaku’s back from a Kevin de Bruyne corner.
However, United hit back instantly, albeit in rather fortuitous circumstances. Marcos Rojo’s hopeful ball into the box was misjudged by both Nicolas Otamendi and Fabian Delph and up swooped Rashford to calmly slide the ball past Ederson and level things up.
The second half saw United open up a bit as they looked to get forward, but City scored just as the momentum started to shift slightly. Lukaku’s terrible clearance from Silva’s free-kick came off the back of Chris Smalling and into the path of Otamendi, who volleyed home from point-blank range to restore City’s lead.
United struggled to get back into the game after the goal and Lukaku missed a guilt-edged chance towards the end, slamming the ball into Ederson’s throat from close range and the Brazilian made a great save to deny Juan Mata from the follow-up.
In the end, City took the spoils in the 175th Manchester Derby and it will be Pep Guardiola’s men will go into the Christmas period in a merry mood, sitting pretty at the top of the table and with the Premier League title theirs to lose. As for United, the inquest will begin for Mourinho into what went wrong out there.
Here are the United player ratings from Old Trafford:
