Manchester City overcame a Phil Foden red card to beat derby rivals Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Michael Oliver gave Foden his marching orders in the 23rd minute for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes, who certainly made the most of the situation but was backed up by VAR.
However, Man City continued to compete and, after surviving both Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo hitting the post, found the winner through Erling Haaland on the hour mark. Even here, it took a long and controversial VAR review to overturn the on-field call of offside.
Stuttering Man Utd attack fails to capitalise on numerical advantage
Man Utd were handed a golden opportunity to claim back-to-back derby wins for the first time since 2020 when Foden was sent off midway through the first half.
Man City had dominated the opening exchanges, but Michael Carrick’s men had just started to get a foothold when Foden departed.
What happened, instead, was Man City upping their game, sensing doubt among the Red Devils’ ranks.
Man Utd completely lacked cohesion in the final third, often being found guilty of needless offsides or wasteful passes in very promising positions. In response, Enzo Maresca’s men were able to limit their rivals to speculative efforts from distance.
Yes, two of those efforts rattled the woodwork — Rashford from a free-kick in the first half and Mainoo from open play after the break. But the fact that it took Man Utd until the 70th minute to register their first shot on target after Foden’s sending off speaks volumes about how disjointed they were.
Man Utd’s biggest opportunity came in the final minute, when Bryan Mbeumo forced a huge save from Gianluigi Donnarumma. But given Mbeumo’s prime positioning, this will only go down as a monumentally costly miss.
That will be the theme of the day at Old Trafford, with Man Utd passing up a derby that was put on a plate for them, just a week after a poorly surrendered result at Everton.
The anger around the decision to uphold Haaland’s goal will rage on into next week, but Man Utd have to take a lot of responsibility for this result.
Haaland sets derby record as Anderson-inspired Man City find a way
It can be a sitter from two yards out, a snapshot with no time to think or a barely onside effort laced with VAR acrimony. It doesn’t matter. Erling Haaland will always find a way.
The Norwegian giant was ice-cold to apply the winning touch on the hour mark here, and in doing so, he netted his ninth Manchester derby goal — pulling clear of Sergio Aguero and Wayne Rooney as the record holder in the Premier League era.
However, it was Elliot Anderson whom Sky Sports commentator and former Man Utd captain Gary Neville named Man of the Match, and with good reason.
The England international put in a relentless effort to make sure Man City didn’t feel like they were a man down, covering a match-high 11.9km and making the joint-most defensive contributions (13). That translated to three tackles, three clearances, an interception and six recoveries as he utterly snuffed out Man Utd.
Anderson was unbeatable, winning seven of his nine ground duels. But he was equally composed on the ball, completing 45 of his 52 passes — six of which were into the final third — and avoiding being dispossessed throughout the entire game.
From covering dangerous spaces, to bullying Man Utd off the ball, to providing calm when Man City won it back, Elliot Anderson did it all at Old Trafford on Sunday. He has officially arrived as a Manchester City player.