Man City had to play with 10 men but did enough to see off Manchester United 1-0 and put to rest Michael Carrick’s hopes of becoming the first United manager since 1913 to win his first two league games against City.
The 199th competitive Manchester derby started slowly but flared up midway through the first half when Phil Foden was red-carded for apparently retaliating to an incident with Bruno Fernandes by kicking him in the shins with two feet.
Ten-man United dominated possession but couldn’t score until Marcus Rashford’s 25-yard free-kick crashed against the crossbar with Gianluigi Donnarumma well beaten.
Shortly after the restart, Kobbie Mainoo also hit the post as United pushed for a winner.
City stunned their hosts by going ahead through Erling Haaland. The striker finished Josko Gvardiol’s cross from a tight angle after a VAR check cleared him of being marginally offside, even though an offside Enzo Fernandez was trying to get to the ball.
Haaland almost doubled City’s advantage with his next shot; the Danish keeper, Lammens, however, saved with a top-class save to turn his curl onto the post. United couldn’t muster any more clear-cut efforts, and City held on to stay eight games unbeaten on their travels.
