Manchester City 0-0 Manchester United: Highlights and recap
Manchester City drew 0-0 with Manchester United in the Premier League on Thursday, April 27. Here are all the highlights from the match.
This was a typical derby match. It was high on endeavour and competitiveness, but devoid of quality for long periods. A standard outcome when Jose Mourinho takes a team away to a rival, in other words.
Argentine forward Sergio Aguero had the first goal attempt of the game after nine minutes, and really should have given his side the lead. Kevin De Bruyne’s cross found Aguero inside the six yard box, but with the goal at his mercy his shot hit the woodwork.
In the 24th minute, Claudio Bravo failed to claim a cross, and Mkhitaryan had United’s first shot of the contest. The goalkeeper, who hasn’t had a great first season in England, did at least recover to keep the ball out of his net.
This didn’t signal the start of a period of United dominance though; they only had two more goal attempts in the rest of the match. United did close the half with a clear-cut chance of their own though, as Ander Herrara headed wide when set up via Marcus Rashford’s free-kick.
Within three minutes of the restart, City had their first shot on target from inside the box, and two minutes later they added another. David de Gea easily kept out the efforts by Sterling and Aguero respectively though. The second half followed the same pattern as the first in truth. City dominated the ball and the shot count, but didn’t seriously threaten the United goal too often.
The second half wasn’t without action though. City’s goalkeeper had to go off injured in the 79th minute; he’d probably seized up from having nothing to do. Then five minutes later Marouane Fellaini was given a straight red card for a head butt on Sergio Aguero, having been booked just 19 seconds earlier.
Gabriel Jesus returned from injury as a late substitute, was booked within three minutes, and also had the ball in the net but it was correctly ruled out for offside.
City have now logged the top two most shots that United have conceded in the league so far this season. Their best chance here was the first of the game though, and despite an almost complete lack of attacking intent from the visitors, they emerged with a point.
Next: Is possession dead in the Premier League?
Highlights
Guardiola’s team remain in fourth place in the table, but are just a point off third-placed Liverpool with a game in hand. They face lowly Middlesbrough next, so will definitely be looking to take all three points there.
United are a point further back, but also have a game in hand on Liverpool. Mourinho’s team still have to travel to Arsenal and Spurs, so they still have plenty to do, but this result keeps their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League via the league alive.