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Manchester City beat their fiercest rivals Manchester United 2-1 at Old Trafford yesterday. It was the with 175th Manchester derby, and in winning the game City set a new record 14th consecutive top-flight victory.
Goals form David Silva and Nicolas Otamendi sandwiched between a Marcus Rashford equalizer were enough to give Pep Guardiola’s men a massive 11 point lead at the top of the Premier League.
City are now 11 points clear
Both mangers made some changes to the line ups, as Ander Herrera came in for the suspended Paul Pogba, Victor Lindelof dropped out as United switched to a back four to accommodate Marcus Rashford in attack. For City, Vincent Kompany and Fernandinho returned, while Gabriel Jesus was preferred to Sergio Aguero.
Being at home and an eight-point gap to bridge ahead of kick-off, the emphasis was on United to go after City, but the hosts spent the majority of the first half chasing shadows.
Tame efforts from Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and a deflected Silva effort was all City’s dominance could muster and nothing was really bothering De Gea, but City kept the dominance going.
Pep knows City have a firm grip on the title
De Gea saved well from Leroy Sane, but from the resulting corner came City’s first goal. De Bruyne’s corner was met by David Silva, who hooked the ball home from six yards after Lukaku failed to clear.
It took United almost 45 minutes to have a strike on goal. Anthony Martial registered their first attempt, but nothing materialised and then aminute later a defensive lapse from Otamendi and Delph allowed Rashford in to fire a low shot into the back of the net. 1-1 half time.
United returned after the interval buoyed by their equalizer and began to show promise. But City scored again on 54 minutes. Lukaku's poor clearance struck Chris Smalling and fell for Otamendi, who put the ball away to give City a deserved lead.
Otamendi scored the winner
United went in search of another equalizer. Jesse Lingard threaded Lukaku through on goal on 66 minutes but the Belgian wasted a good opportunity. City went up the other end and almost scored themselves. De Bruyne found the target but De Gea produced a fine save low to his right.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic came on 79 minutes and United pushed for an equaliser, but two point-blank saves from City stopper Ederson clinched the win for City.
It was United's third defeat of the season and brings their 40-match unbeaten home run to an end, while strengthening City's grip on the title after just 16 matches. You can never say the title is over before Christmas, but to lose from here, City would have to have one of the all time great collapses.
Sources:
www.skysports.com
www.timeincapp.com
www.espn.com
www.imgbb.com
It is safe enought to say that City have the title in the back already. They are not only firing on all cylinders, Pep is also showing great tactical flexibility and the squad appears to have a lot of depth. Beating United at Old Traford is a psychological turning point for everybody and should be a great morale booster.
Still, it's important to mention that some of the wins City have been getting recently have also been kind of lucky and close too.
What's really interesting and exciting is if City will be able to go unbeaten in the prem and how they will do in the Champions League. Having a big lead on top will allow them to devote attention and manpower to competing in Europe, but might lead to them recording a surprise loss somewhere in the season.
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Are they the best English team you've seen? The Arsenal invincibles were the best footballing team Ive seen. I remember Liverpool in about 89. What a team!
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Well, that's a very hard question actually. It's hard for me to compare football from different eras, but I might actually agree with the Arsenal invincibles. United have also had some magnificent squads in the past. It's really hard for me because I didn't watch the Premier League that consistently in the past. It's grown on me relatively recently.
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The league is pretty much Man City's ! With that being said this was a rather upset weekend with the results, Being a Liverpool supporter I am very disappointed with not bagging that win :-(
City however has been the better team and they definitely do deserve the title.
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What a match. As a United fan, I was sad after but there's not hit we could have done differently. City are just too good
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I was hoping for a draw
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There was an afterparty after the match :)
José Mourinho in post-match fracas over Manchester City’s ‘noisy’ celebrations
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Unfortunately that's probably the end of Man United's league campaign, however as a Man U fan I'm hoping they put forth a solid effor in the Champions League. One can only hope!
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