Man United may have just knocked Man City out of the title race for good

Manchester United’s 2-1 win over Manchester City may have ended City’s hopes of a third consecutive Premier League title.

Things haven’t gone particularly well on the red side of Manchester this year – or the last few years for that matter – but Saturday’s derby victory will be doubly sweet for Manchester United as they not only beat Manchester City, but may have completely ended their rivals’ hopes of a third consecutive Premier League title.

United beat City, 2-1, on Saturday at the Etihad, snapping a three-match losing streak to the Citizens. For United, it was the end of a resurgent week that included wins over Tottenham and City (and may have saved Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s job). For City it may have been the official end of their title hopes.

Third-place Manchester City are now 14 points back of league-leaders Liverpool, while United moves up into fifth. Pep Guardiola’s men have lost four times already, equaling the number of defeats they suffered all of last season. In their 100-point season the year before, Manchester City lost just twice.

But this season has been a unique challenge for Guardiola as Manchester City have tried to maintain their unprecedented level of dominance. Saturday’s loss puts Manchester City out to the worst 16-match start ever for a Pep Guardiola team.

Marcus Rashford opened the scoring on Saturday with a penalty in the 23rd minute and then six minutes later Anthony Martial made it 2-0 inside of half an hour.

Nicolas Otamendi grabbed a goal back for City with an 85th minute header, but it was too little too late for the hosts.

City dominated the ball to the tune of a 72-28 percent possession advantage, and took twice as many shots as United. The statistical models saw City producing more chances than United, some by more than double the expected goals.

For all of Manchester City’s statistical dominance, however, they didn’t actually look too threatening for much of the game.

Liverpool, for their part, kept rolling on Saturday. Sure, the Reds were facing a struggling Bournemouth side, but they took care of business, beating the Cherries, 3-0, and turning on the style.

After letting a lead slip and coming up just short of City last year, Liverpool look determined not to repeat that fate. Now, City are staring at a historic deficit.

“It’s unrealistic to think we can catch up, but we will continue,” Guardiola said afterward. “We are a fantastic team, we played so good.”

They are still a fantastic team, but it wasn’t – and hasn’t been – good enough. City are left having to pull off the most remarkable feat of their remarkable run if they want to challenge for the title again.