Who in the world saw this coming? Certainly not the Manchester City supporters, who had all the confidence in the world heading into Saturday’s tilt against Manchester United.
Photo credit: Man City
However, in a true English Premier League stunner, the Red Devils scored a pair of goals in the first half to pave the wave for a 2-1 victory over City.
From the opening whistle, Manchester United used the counter attack as its best friend to try and catch City off guard. In the 23rd minute, Marcus Rashford opened up the scoring for the visiting side by sending his penalty kick past Ederson, who dove the wrong way.
Taken down in the box, the play was initially ruled clean against Rashford, but a VAR check awarded the PK to United. In the 29th minute, Anthony Martial doubled the lead for the Reds, powering a left-footed effort past Ederson.
At halftime, United was up 2-0 and changes clearly needed to be made by manager Pep Guardiola. After City kept putting the pressure on United, substitute Nicolas Otamendi brought life to the Etihad with a strong header, which found the back of the net in the 85th minute. Game on.
Moments later, Riyad Mahrez nearly evened things up for the home side, but Manchester United keeper David de Gea made a brilliant save the keep the ball out. Unfortunately, City was unable to find the equalizer and watched United celebrate in front of the away fans after the final whistle.
With the loss, City is now in third place with 32 points, 14 points past No. 1 Liverpool.