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Manchester City thrashed Manchester United 4-1 in a crucial Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on Sunday night. Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez scored braces for Manchester City in the first and second halves respectively, while Jadon Sancho scored the only goal for Manchester United.
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The win propelled Manchester City to 69 points from 28 matches and they now have a six-point cushion over second-placed Liverpool. On the other hand, Manchester United dropped down to the fifth position with 47 points from the same number of matches. To make matters worse for the Red Devils, fourth-placed Arsenal have played three fewer matches than them.
On that note, let’s take a look at the three factors that stood out in yesterday’s match:
#1 Manchester City got a soft opening goal but Sancho’s heroics put Manchester United back on level terms
It was obvious even before the start of the match that Manchester United had to score first to make a match out of it. However, it was their opponents who succeeded in breaking the deadlock, and that too through a very soft goal.
Bernardo Silva, playing in the midfield in Manchester City’s 4-3-3 but attacking through the left flank repeatedly, played a cross from the left when he should not have been allowed by the Manchester United defenders to do so.
The ball was received by a lurking De Bruyne inside the United penalty box, and the Belgian midfielder shrugged off the challenge by a diving Alex Telles to shoot it home past Harry Maguire and David de Gea.
It was De Bruyne’s ninth goal of the season and was also an indication of things to come. However, United struck back with a typical counter-attacking goal through Sancho.
The ball was won inside the United half and played quickly to Paul Pogba, who found an onrushing Sancho inside the Manchester City half. Sancho cut in through the inside-left channel and took a shot at the City goal past Rodri. The ball beat Ederson to reach the far corner of the net and United were back on level terms.
#2 City kept tormenting United through the left and went ahead again
The goal jolted Manchester City, but they responded like true champions. They kept tormenting the United defense through the left flank and the inside-left channel, with Silva particularly active in that territory.
Silva combined very well with Jack Grealish on the left. Phil Foden, who started as a centre-forward, also came into his own after a slow start and started taking on Manchester United defenders with his quicksilver runs and dribbling skills.
It was Foden who managed to get the ball past a United defender through the inside-left channel by lofting the ball above him with a brilliant touch and then taking control of it. Foden then took a shot at United’s goal, but the ball ricocheted to reach De Bruyne, who made no mistake in shooting home from close range.
City were deservingly ahead again and it required a strong response from the visitors to come back into the match. However, Manchester United, who were without the services of Cristiano Ronaldo, could not do much with their 4-2-3-1 formation that often turned into 4-6-0.
They were without any proper striker and it was Bruno Fernandes who started as a false 9. Pogba started as the no. 10, but neither him nor Fernandes could exhibit enough creativity to trouble City’s defense.
#3 City showed their class in the second half and increased the deficit further
City started the second half in emphatic fashion and started squeezing United by refusing to concede possession. The home side had almost 60% ball-possession in the first half, but managed to have more than 70% of it in the second half. They started harassing the visitors with their slick and short passes and United were turned into mere onlookers.
Riyad Mahrez, who had a relatively quiet first half playing as a right winger, slowly started coming into his own. He cut in from the right flank to take a couple of shots at the Manchester United goal, but De Gea managed to stave off the danger. However, he could not stop Mahrez from scoring his ninth goal of the season when the Algerian winger shot home from a corner kick.
The third goal sealed the fate of the match, but Manchester City refused to take their foot off the pedal. Ralf Rangnick substituted a largely ineffective Anthony Elanga and Pogba and introduced Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford respectively. However, they could hardly have an effect on the match, as United struggled to win back possession.
Pep Guardiola decided to give De Bruyne some rest and replaced him with Ilkay Gundogan. The German midfielder impressed during his brief stint and played a delectable through pass to Mahrez, who beat De Gea with an accurate shot. The linesman ruled it out as Mahrez was offside.
However, VAR then intervened and overturned the decision, which looked to be correct as Mahrez’s right arm was sticking out. However, the result of the match was never in doubt and the home side managed to get all three points deservedly.
