Erling Haaland struck twice and Phil Foden added another to give Manchester City a dominant derby day victory at neighbours Manchester United, with the 3-0 win at Old Trafford taking the defending champions up to third, two points behind Premier League leaders Tottenham.
City had lost their last two on the road in the Premier League but had too much for a United side who, despite a recent run of narrow wins and a spate of injuries, have issues to address across the pitch. If it wasn’t for Andre Onana, who made a series of fine stops, the scoreline could easily have been heavier.
Haaland’s first came from the penalty spot after Rasmus Hojlund’s pull on Rodri in the box was punished by referee Paul Tierney from the pitch side monitor. Sky Sports’ pundits all described it as “soft” but former referee Mike Dean was convinced it was a “clear holding offence”.
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Premier League top scorer Haaland then hammered home a header after the break for his 11th goal of the season. It was a carbon copy of a chance at the end of the first half which Onana stunningly stopped but Haaland gave the goalkeeper no hope this time.
Onana denied Haaland a third from a one-on-one chance soon after and the striker passed up the opportunity to go for goal again when he squared for Foden to tap in a simple finish to put City out of sight.
City have now won six of the last eight derbies across all competitions and were rarely troubled in this one. A first-half Scott McTominay drive forced Ederson to tip over and Marcus Rashford sent a second-half chance wide but City head coach Pep Guardiola, in charge for a 20th Manchester derby, has mastered this match-up.
United boss Erik ten Hag, whose decision to sub off Hojlund was booed, couldn’t come up with the formula for an upset and his side stay eighth, already 11 points behind pacesetters Spurs.
