On Sunday Pep Guardiola won the round one of a psychological battle against rival Jose Mourinho when Manchester City rolled out of Old Trafford comfortably bagging three points following their 2-1 win against Manchester United.
It was about bragging rights over who owned the city of Manchester.
The clash also pitched the football philosophies both Managers are widely acknowledged to be acolytes of.
It also may have very well set the pace for the Cityzens to build an unassailable lead in the race for the premier league title.
These thoughts may very much have crossed Mourinho’s mind pre kick-off, however, his side were as limp against the best team in England and he surely knew that too.
The Special One was out of tricks or gambits before and there was only luck to grab on to during the game.
Three goals from defensive errors – it was bound to happen in what is now becoming a Box Office Derby – did manifest.
Poor marking from a corner gifted City’s David Silva the opportunity to score for the lead and he took it; an exposed De Gea tried but there would be no heroics for him.
The goal and the lead were however cancelled out after a poor defensive judgement on the other end saw a cross drop invitingly to the feet of Marcus Rashford.
The youngster tucked it away with aplomb to restore parity in addition time of the first half.
Not short of the drama of derby day fixtures – with a touch of rarity as the opposing Managers enjoyed a laugh on the touchline – there were crunchy tackles, simulations, gilt edge misses and the inevitable questionable calls of the Referee.
It was in the middle of all this after the restart of the game that Romelu Lukaku would offer up a goal on a day he was jinxed and failed to score himself.
The massive Belgian had intended a clear out from a corner kick, but the ball ricocheted off his defender to fall for Nicolas Otamendi who, showed De Gea no mercy.
14 – Man City’s 14-game winning run is the joint-best in the English top-flight alongside Arsenal’s run between February & August 2002. Superiority.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 10, 2017
That goal gave City the lead for a second time and thereafter both teams lost their goal scoring touch and Pep registered his 14th consecutive win in the PL this season.
The victory ties Arsenal’s record of 14 straight wins in 2002.
14 – Man City’s 14-game winning run is the joint-best in the English top-flight alongside Arsenal’s run between February & August 2002. Superiority.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 10, 2017
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