Manchester United edge 2-0 past host Manchester City in a heated Manchester Derby that involved a touchline spat on Sunday.
United took an early lead through Bruno Fernandes’ spot-kick with just 36 seconds into the game. Gabriel Jesus chopped down Anthony Martial inside the box to hand United a penalty. Manchester City was unable to respond, yet again, they conceded the second goal 5 minute into the second half.
Luke Shaw received Dean Henderson’s throw to pull a counterattack past Joao Cancelo. The left full-back exchanged passes with Marcus Rashford and doubled the lead. United change their approach in the second half, made a tactical half-time switch to ensure the Citizens go down.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had asked his forward to up their game against the Citizens and that worked well for the coach. The positive words from the Norwegian paid off as Martial constantly threaten Pep Guardiola’s sides.
“Every game lives its own life this season, it’s unpredictable, it can go up and down, that’s just human nature,” Solskjaer said.
“Today, we started really brightly on the front foot,” he added.
Solskjaer explained the early lead got his side momentum and set a tone for the game. However, he stressed the second half positive play and the second goal sought out things.
“When you get the 1-0 lead it sets a tone for the game. I thought we were excellent in the first 10 or 15 minutes, then settled into our shape, because we played too much on the result, and we adjusted that at half time to be more positive again and the second goal was incredible.
“We’ve got to do everything we can to keep the performance levels up, of course,” he continued.
Solskjaer cuts City’s lead to 11 points with 10 games left. City won the 2012 title on goal difference after United threw away an eight-point advantage with six games remaining. It seems the title far off their reach with 10 games to go and the derby victory is likely a possible marker for next season.
The Red Devils now focus on the Europa league tier against Italian Serie A second pale AC Milan on Thursday at Old Trafford. United is chasing three titles at the moment, one (English Premier League) chance fading off.