Manchester Is Blue: Record-Breaking Haaland…

Manchester City extended their winning start to the Premier League season after defeating city-rivals Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford.

Premier League
Teams: Manchester United v Manchester City
Result: 0-1
Scorers: Haaland (60′)

United coach Michael Carrick brought Diogo Dalot, Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire back into the side following Thursday’s big UEFA Champions League win over Sabah FK, while Phil Foden replaced Ndiaye in the City line-up.

There was a lovely tempo to the first half, with both sides showing desire to get on the ball and create chances, although the final ball was not up to par at both ends.

City suffered a big blow on 22 minutes when Foden was shown a straight red card for lashing out at United’s Bruno Fernandes, leaving the Cityzens to finish the rest of the encounter with 10 players.

United, meanwhile, were unable to take advantage of the numbers as they were not quick enough with their passes going forward, which allowed the City defenders and midfielders to regroup quite easily whenever they lost the ball.

The hosts nearly got their reward on the stroke of half-time via a dead-ball situation when Rashford’s curling free-kick rattled the upright with Gianluigi Donnarumma well beaten on his line.

City had the ball in the back of the net just before the hour mark when Erling Haaland turned home a cross at the far post, silencing the home fans after the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) overturned the linesman’s decision to lift his flag.

With that goal, Haaland surpassed Sergio Aguero and Wayne Rooney to became the Manchester Derby’s all-time leading scorer with nine goals.

Carrick responded with his first change soon after as striker Benjamin Sesko was introduced in place of Youri Tielemans as they looked to get back on level terms against a ten-man City side with 30 minutes to play.

Try as they might, the Red Devils were unable to find a way past City, with Donnarumma proving to be the hero by denying Bryan Mbeumo with a superb save in second-half stoppage time to seal maximum points.

Next Five Fixtures:

Manchester United: Brighton and Hove Albion (H), Fulham (A), Tottenham Hotspur (H), Atletico Madrid (A), Leeds United (A)

Manchester City: Norwich City (A), Sunderland (H), Liverpool (A), Paris Saint-Germain (H), Ipswich Town (A)

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