Man City 3 Man Utd 1
Pep Guardiola and Erik ten Hag went head to head at The Etihad with Man City knowing anything but a win would be a huge blow to their title ambitions. Gone are the days where they come into these games as underdogs, now they needed to put in a performance.
The hosts started on the front foot and Kevin De Bruyne was involved in everything they did of note. With Stones playing in this new central midfield position, he gets forward a lot more and thought he should have had a penalty but the replay showed he kicked Casemiro not the way he saw it.
A route one ball from Onana found Fernandes on the edge of the City box. He laid it off to Rashford, who struck it first time, hitting the underside of the crossbar and going in to give the visitors the lead against the run of play.
It was a very Wimbledon-esque goal but no Man Utd fan was complaining. Guardiola’s side looked to find an equaliser and as De Bruyne slotted Foden in, his right-footed shot was blocked by Onana at the expense of a corner.
Credit: @ManCity
Jonny Evans burst out of defence for the visitors, playing a pass out wide to Fernandes. He clipped a ball into the back post where Rashford had an air shot, missing the ball completely. Normal service was resumed on the forward’s season so far.
Doku looked to check onto his right foot and shoot but his effort was well blocked and spooned up in the air. A terrible defensive header by Casemiro gifted the ball to Haaland but he headed over the bar when he should be doing far better.
The hosts continued to pile on the pressure and Rodri was the next to shoot from the edge of the box but the Man Utd keeper got down well to tip the ball around the post. Man City were not so much knocking on the door but breaking and entering now.
To their credit, ten Hag’s side were getting numbers between the City players and the goal. Rodri clipped a cross to the back post and Foden headed it across goal. Haaland had an open goal, two yards out, but somehow put it over the crossbar.
Pep Guardiola stood on the touchline, with his head in his hands, not quite believing what he had just seen. The prolific striker has been scoring for fun since joining Man City but this one was going to go down as one of the misses of the season.
In the second half Fernandes played Rashford through but he didn’t seem to have the pace to beat Walker and went to ground, looking for a free kick. The referee waved play on and Man City quickly turned defence into attack.
Credit: @ManCity
Rodri played the ball to Foden on the right, who squared up Lindelof. He cut inside onto his favoured left-foot and drilled a shot into the top corner to send The Etihad stadium wild. It had taken nearly an hour but finally the hosts had unlocked the United defence, in some style.
Man City grew in confidence, Foden and Alvarez exchanged a neat one-two and the midfielder ghosted into the box. He drilled a shot across Onana into the far corner and the defending champions had the lead for the first time in the game.
By this stage, the Red Devils were second to the ball all over the park. Amrabat lost the ball close to his own penalty area and it was slotted into Haaland. He let the ball run across his path before passing it into the far corner of the goal to seal the victory.
It was a win that Man City fully deserved on the balance of the game, the visitors’ lead had flattered as they were defending for their lives for the majority of the match. Of course the deluded Erik ten Hag said what a good performance it was in his post-match interview, classic vibes.
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