Pep Guardiola's Manchester City went back to the top of the Premier League, after being temporarily knocked off the top of the table by Liverpool, by beating Manchester United 3-1 in the derby.
Going into the game Manchester City were clear favourites against their local rivals and any hope amongst United fans quickly disappeared when Paul Pogba was left out of the squad because of an injury.
United started with Ander Herrera, Marouane Fellaini and Nemanja Matic in midfield giving them industry but not much creativity. City on the other hand had their strongest possible XI with only Kevin de Bruyne missing.
The Premier League champions had a great start and by the time David Silva put them ahead in the 12th minute it was a well deserved lead. A great whipped cross from Benjamin Mendy found Bernardo Silva and the Portuguese midfielder played the ball back across the box for his Spanish namesake. The former Valencia man took a step back inside before placing the ball home.
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Jose Mourinho's side were all over the place and being swarmed all over. It was a near miracle that they went into the break just 1-0 down and somehow still in the game, reminiscent of last season's comeback game.
United had started to get back into the game in the latter part of the first half but with just three minutes of the second period gone Sergio Aguero made it 2-0 and it seemed to be game over.
Jesse Lingard lost the ball around halfway, Aguero played a brilliant one-two with Riyad Mahrez and the Argentine rifled the ball past David de Gea, the keeper might have done better.
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City were once again all over United but suddenly the Red Devils got back in the game almost from nowhere. Romelu Lukaku came on and within a minute of replacing Lingard he won a penalty with Ederson rushing off his line to take the Belgian out.
With no Pogba to do a half an hour run up it was left to fellow Frenchman Anthony Martial to go for the more conventional penalty technique and make it 2-1.
A fantastic passing move late in the game led to Ilkay Gundogan being open in the United box on his own, after Nemanja Matic failed to pick up the City substitute, and the midfielder made it 3-1 with just four minutes of normal time remaining.
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The win means that they, Chelsea and Liverpool all remain undefeated after 12 games. The loss means United remain seven points behind fourth placed Spurs.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Manchester City, Football News, Jose Mourinho, Sergio Aguero, Manchester United, Pep Guardiola, Premier League