De Bruyne, Mahrez stars in City's 4-1 win over dismal United 

Spineless. Toothless. Gutless. This Manchester United side is just not good enough to play professional football. In the 186th derby of English Football on Sunday, Manchester City annihilated their oldest rivals to solidify their position at the top of the table. The 4-1 scoreline is a testament of the ruthlessness they displayed during the crunch game. United’s interim manager Ralf Rangnick before the start of the match told the press he wants his team to display immense grit, determination and courage but maybe the players had some other plans. They were all over the place, hardly showed any fight and gave up midway. 

Manchester United turned heads prior to the on field action. Portuguese forward, Cristiano Ronaldo was excluded for the big game. Rangnick instead went with Anthony Elanga in hopes of bolstering the counter attack play. City on the other hand started with Grealish, Mahrez and Foden up front. The home crowd came in huge numbers to support their side and they did not have to wait long enough to see their team take a lead. 

The men in blue ripped through the fragile back line of United to gain control. Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring for the table toppers in less than 5 minutes. United responded strongly with Jadon Sancho making it even inside the first half an hour. The promising winger curled one right through the heart of City defence to beat a diving Ederson. Reds elation were cut short as City skipper netted his second goal six minutes after the equaliser to hand the hosts back with the lead. City forwards were quick to latch onto Elanga’s poor clearance to regain control. With 2-1 up in the first half, everyone was expecting both sides to come all guns blazing in the second half. 

After an enticing first 45 minutes the game was wide open with all three possibilities but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. The visitors constantly made mistakes allowing City to run away with the game. Mahrez scored a brace in the second half which featured a stunning volley in the box to put the game to bed. For United it was once again their defence that let them down. Harry Maguire and Aaron Wan Bissaka faced heavy criticism for their abysmal defending. They were nowhere close to their best and it was evident with the way they were losing posession.  To make matters worse, the reds slipped to fifth position the the PL standings.  Arsenal beat Watford on the same day to move up at fourth. With the battle for top four heating up, it would be interesting to see how the red devils perform now.