Manchester United 1-2 Manchester City, Premier League: Match Report

Manchester City emerged victorious from the Derby after a 2-1 victory at Old Trafford against Manchester United, thanks to goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Kelechi Iheanacho, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring for United. City dominated possession and kept United from creating any kind of danger for most of the game, and deservedly won an entertaining Derby to claim early bragging rights over the Red Devils and reach the top of the Premier League table.

FIRST HALF

City completely dominated the entire first half, keeping possession and controlling the action thanks to a sublime performance by Kevin De Bruyne, who did everything: pass, create chances and score. His goal came after a smart anticipation to take the ball from Daily Blind and put the Citizens ahead. Twenty minutes later De Bruyne hit the post and basically assisted Iheanacho, who doubled City's lead with an easy tap-in.

Then the City defense made some big mistakes and let the Reds back in the game. First, Claudio Bravo made a terrible mistake when trying to claim a cross and the ball fell right to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored United's first. Zlatan had two other clear chances just a few minutes later, but Bravo and Stones kept him from scoring the equalizer.

At halftime, a dominant City in the first half, but the defensive errors sure made the game nervous. And we still had the second half.

SECOND HALF

Thanks to that awful end to the first half, City began the final period in ugly fashion, failing to keep the ball and conceding spaces to a more attacking United side, who made changes to be stronger in midfield and hurt City's full-backs.

After a good 20 minutes of pressure in the second half, United failed to create any real scoring chances, and City came back to the game and regained control of possession in midfield. United were dangerous on the counter, and Marcus Rashford had a goal denied because Ibrahimovic was in an offside position and interfered with the play.

De Bruyne had a glorious chance in a fast counter-attack created by Sané, but the Belgian's shot hit the post and rolled through the goal line before going out. Mourinho put Martial in trying to find the equalizer, but City's defense stayed strong and held on to a key result, even surviving FIVE MINUTES of Fergie Time.

In the end, a great Manchester Derby, a strong performance from City in a big-game environment, and a huge win that might have implications later on this season. What a victory.

Man Utd: De Gea | Valencia, Bailly, Blind, Shaw (Martial) | Fellaini, Pogba | Mkhitaryan (Herrera), Rooney, Lingard (Rashford) | Ibrahimovic

Goal: Ibrahimovic (42')

Man City: Bravo | Sagna, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov | Fernandinho | Sterling (Sané), De Bruyne (Zabaleta), Silva, Nolito | Iheanacho (Fernando)

Goals: De Bruyne (15'), Iheanacho (36')