MANCHESTER-. With suffering and doublet of Phil Foden, Manchester City took the 3-1 victory in the derby against Unitedand add three vital points to follow one of the Liverpoolleader of the Premier League after 27 days played.
“Currently, he is the best footballer in the Premier League,” declared Pep Guardiola of the 23-year-old. “He has always been a talented player, but he has gained maturity and understands the game better, especially from a defensive point of view.”
If on Saturday, the ‘Reds’ had to use Darwin Núñez to add the three points in Nottingham in stoppage time (90+9), City also had to work hard to beat their biggest rival.
The duel at the Etihad began with Marcus Rashford’s great goal. Bruno Fernandes, in the ‘9’ position, controlled a long pass on the edge of the area, withstood the rise of his teammates and gave way to the English international, who hit the top corner with a shot from outside the area (8).
The Cameroonian André Onana allowed with his saves (two from Foden’s shots and another against Rodri) that United had an advantage at half-time against a City that had a hard time recovering from United’s initial goal.
But 10 minutes after the restart, Foden started from the right, centered and from the balcony of the area launched a left-footed shot that finally surpassed the Cameroonian goalkeeper (56).
18º gol de Haaland
City’s fittest man in this stretch of the season – the team’s second top scorer in the Premier with 11 goals (18 in all competitions) – gave the ‘Skyblues’ victory ten minutes from time, with a cross shot from inside the area after making the wall with the Portuguese Bernardo Silva.
“That is my goal, to be a protagonist in the big games (…) I think I am showing it this season,” Foden declared after the game.
Two minutes earlier, Argentine Alejandro Garnacho claimed a penalty after being knocked down by Ederson, but the VAR considered that the action of City’s Brazilian goalkeeper was not punishable.
Already in stoppage time, the Norwegian Erling Haaland did not miss his appointment with the goal and made it 3-1 final (90+1).
City’s pressure allowed Rodri to steal the ball from Moroccan Sofyan Amrabat and the Spaniard gave it to the Nordic, who beat Onana to score his 18th goal this season in the Premier League (28 in all competitions).
One point behind the ‘Reds’
After these results, Liverpool has 63 points, compared to City’s 62 and Arsenal’s 58, which visits bottom club Sheffield United on Monday.
United, for its part, is sixth with 44 points, six behind Tottenham, which also has one game less, so the objective of playing in the next Champions League becomes more complicated week by week.
In the other match on Sunday, Burnley went on to a ninth consecutive match without winning in the championship, on Sunday against Bournemouth (2-0), which with this victory almost guaranteed permanence.
After 27 games, Burnley led by Vincent Kompany is second to last with 13 points, 11 less than the first team out of the relegation zone, Nottingham Forest.
Source: AFP
