5 best Manchester derbies in the Premier League era

2. Manchester United 4-3 Manchester City

City had Ferguson unusually rattled by the time the 2009/10 season had kicked into gear. In fact, they had annoyed their rivals even before then by signing Tevez on a permanent deal and featuring the Argentinian forward on an infamous billboard.

Ferguson was prompted to adorn City with the equally infamous “noisy neighbour” label. But there was no hiding the Scot’s concern about the fact the team on his own patch could now outspend him without breaking a sweat thanks to the riches of new owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

This game was promoted as a litmus test of City’s potential to eventually usurp their neighbours as not only the power in Manchester, but all of England’s top flight. Or else United would make a statement they weren’t prepared to budge.

With the status of both clubs set to be altered, the match was an epic, end-to-end struggle. Rooney put United ahead, before Gareth Barry answered back. Darren Fletcher restored the Reds’ lead, Craig Bellamy equalised, then the same thing happened again.

Seemingly set to end in a six-goal stalemate, the match continued. And continued. And continued.

In fact, it’s not unreasonable to think they would still be playing now had United not found a late winner. Ironically, one of the most iconic goals in the club’s recent history came from the boot of a former Liverpool player, Michael Owen.

Afterwards, most of the attention focused on referee Martin Atkinson. He had played over six minutes of what was originally slated to be four minutes of stoppage time.

In the process, Atkinson added weight to all the conspiracy theorists whoever bemoaned United’s frequent luck in so-called “Fergie time.”