MANCHESTER CITY VS MANCHESTER UNITED - MATCH REVIEW

The first Manchester derby this season took pace at Etihad. The last time both teams met on that field, the red devils came victorious. Well, fans had expected that same fate to happen again, but City proved them wrong. Yesterday's win made it the 10th time Guardiola would defeat Mourinho. They've been meeting right from El Clasico and the rivalry hasn't stopped still. Mourinho still has a lot of match to meet up with him through; he'd won 5 and draw 7. Guardiola wasn't the only man with an impressive record that night, Man City also had the most wins since 2011. Still a long way to level up on head to head, but they've won more in recent times.

City's starting lineup didn't change, the 4-3-3 formation we were used to was what Guardiola arranged for the red devils. John Stones, Laporte, Mendy and Walker completed the back line; they were the four defenders. Fernandinho, Bernardo Silva and David Silva secured the midfield area, while Sterling, Mharez and Aguero played the attacking roles. This has been the formation, Mourinho had expected this but he still couldn't stop them. But he tried bringing in something Man City wouldn't expect.

Manchester United also played a 4-3-3 formation with Smalling, Lindeloef, Shaw and Young as the defenders. Matic, Herrera and Fellaini played the midfield area while Lingard, Rashford and Martial attacked. Pogba wasn't in the squad and Lukaku came in later. Just when we thought Alexis Sanchez and Juan Mata would be in the starting lineup due to their impressive game play against Juventus, Mourinho, however thought otherwise.

Only two people received a yellow card in the match. That's kinda rare - given the fact that it's a tough match. Bernardo Silva and Luke Shaw were the only players awarded a card. Manchester United tried everything possible not to concede a goal in the early minutes of the game but were disappointed in the 12th minute. Bernardo Silva provided a great assist that got to his namesake. Aguero would have gotten to the ball but he was brought down already. David Silva didn't hesitate to put the ball into net.

Manchester United weren't superb in the first half, the only chance they had was Anthony Martial's shot in the 39th minute and it was blocked by City's solid defence. Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho missed a couple of chances and played it wide. They could have made it 2 goals to nil. The first half ended that way and Manchester United were still hopeful.

Manchester City still took control of the ball in the second half, and just 3 minutes into the game, they scored another goal. Sergio Aguero was the goal scorer in the 48th minute. He created the chance and scored the goal. One look at Manchester United fans shows there was no hope of winning, but the players wouldn't believe that. Mourinho brought in Lukaku to replace the Lingard in the 56th minute and the Belgian created a penalty. He tried dribbling Ederson who brought him down instead. Anthony Martial scored the penalty in the 58th minute. Herrera and Rashford were replaced by Mata and Sanchez and that seemed to change the game. Manchester United became attacking minded but they couldn't get a goal. Well, Guardiola also replaced Aguero with Gundogan and he ended Man United's hope in the 86th minute. The German was faced with the De Gea and it was obvious he would score.

The only shot on target Manchester United had in the match was Martial's penalty. They had only one corner and got 32% of the ball possession. This is heartbreaking! Manchester City are looking too dangerous and might win the league again. Liverpool and Chelsea are behind and the blues still lost two points against Everton yesterday. Guardiola is about to make history in Manchester City and Mourinho might end his reign at Old Trafford this season. It's just a matter of time to find out.

All images are screenshots from the match.

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*It's @afolwalex, your number one sport analyst.*

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