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 and Foden both scored hat-tricks in the 6-3 City win when these sides met a year ago and 12 months on the gap between the Manchester rivals remains huge.
Haaland’s first came from the spot, after Rasmus Hojlund’s pull on Rodri in the box was punished by referee Paul Tierney from the pitchside monitor. Sky Sports’ pundits all described it as “soft” but former referee Mike Dean was convinced it was a “clear holding offence”.
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.