City put four past United to take derby day honours

Manchester City extended their lead at the top of the Premier League as Pep Guardiola’s side completely outclassed Manchester United to go six points clear of Liverpool in second place. Two goals apiece from Kevin de Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez sentenced the Red Devils to a 4-1 defeat at the Etihad, with Jadon Sancho’s first-half strike acting as nothing more than a consolation for the visitors. 

With no Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani in the squad, Ralf Rangnick opted for an unusual 4-4-2 formation that saw Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba play as the de facto strikers. To his credit, though, the tactic seemed to work well for the opening 25 minutes as United were able to go toe to toe with the league leaders. Kevin de Bruyne opened the scoring for City in the fifth minute, converting Bernardo Silva’s cutback after ghosting into the penalty box.

United hit back thanks to an excellent curled effort from Jadon Sancho into the far corner against his former club, but City re-took the lead almost instantly, with the visitors turning over possession inside their half and de Bruyne making the most of a goal-mouth scramble to double his tally.

The Red Devils had opportunities to level the scores again before half-time, but any optimism built up by United in the first period was completely wiped away after the break as City raised their level to kill the game off. Guardiola’s side routinely cut through the opposition press with ease, and City were able to find the third goal thanks to an unbelievable strike from Riyad Mahrez, with the Algerian redirecting Kevin de Bruyne’s corner into the back of the net off a Harry Maguire deflection. 

Mahrez’s strike extinguished any hopes of a United comeback, and the Red Devils ran out of ideas after going 3-1 down, with City exerting total domination over their neighbours and passing them into submission. Damningly, United completed just 16 passes as a team in the final ten minutes of the tie and were punished further when Mahrez added a fourth goal in injury time to put the icing on the cake, running onto an Ilkay Gundogan through ball and rifling past a helpless David de Gea in goal.

This chastening defeat leaves United’s hopes of securing Champions League qualification for next season on a thread, with Ralf Rangnick’s side dropping to fifth in the table, one point behind fourth-placed Arsenal, who have three games in hand. City, meanwhile, continue their march to a fourth league title in five years, creating some breathing space between themselves and Liverpool with just ten games to go.