10 incredible stats from Manchester City’s utterly dominant derby day thrashing of Manchester United
Just over a year on from a jaw-dropping 6-3 victory against Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City again regained the bragging rights with a completely dominant 3-0 win at Old Trafford.
In what felt like vengeance for United getting one back on them earlier in the year when they snatched a comeback 2-1 win inside a rampant Theatre of Dreams, Pep Guardiola’s side ensured there was no repeat of that this time.
The reigning, defending treble winners turned up to away turf and wiped the floor with the opposition, all without ever truly moving out of second gear.
Erling Haaland can be thanked for that – as usual.
City’s big Norwegian freak barely broke a sweat as he bagged twice and set up another to see his side stroll to victory behind enemy lines, leaving United looking sillier and sillier with every passing minute.
A soft but fair penalty awarded to City thanks to an assist from VAR saw Haaland fire them ahead from the spot after 26 minutes. After forcing a fine save out of Andre Onana from a header before half-time, he repeated the same trick after the break to more success for 2-0.
The afternoon continued to get worse for Erik ten Hag’s side, who couldn’t get anywhere near their noisy neighbours and – perhaps most worryingly – didn’t really look like they wanted to.
That allowed Haaland to eventually put the gloss on victory by squaring the ball from Onana’s rebounded save for Phil Foden to fire in City’s third – all too easily.
“It looks easy but it is not,” Guardiola said to reporters after the game: “I have a lot of respect for [Manchester] United but we were at our best in the second half…”
“We are in the same direction, me, the CEO, the sporting directors, the chairman. That is why I think the club is so stable.”
His words highlight the striking comparison between how City are run compared to United, who are spiralling into chaos once again.
In celebration of yet another commanding derby victory, we’ve taken a look at X of the most absurd stats to come from the game.
– Erling Haaland has now scored 47 goals in 45 Premier League games.
– Haaland (11) has scored the same amount of goals as Manchester United (11) in the Premier League this season.
– Erling Haaland has reached 20 away goals in fewer appearances than any previous Premier League player (23 games) – via @OptaJoe.
– Rasmus Hojlund has conceded more penalties (1) than he has scored goals (0) in the Premier League this season
– Manchester United haven’t suffered five defeats from their first 10 top-flight league games since the 1986-87 season (6) – via @Statsdufoot.
– Guardiola’s Manchester City officially have more Premier League away wins at Old Trafford (9) than any other team.
Most Premier League away wins at Old Trafford:
◎ 9 – Man City
◎ 7 – Liverpool
◎ 6 – Chelsea
◉ 5 – Pep Guardiola
◎ 4 – Man City without Pep
◎ 4 – Arsenal
◎ 4 – SpursManchester is 🔵 pic.twitter.com/j3UUvblLoz
— Squawka (@Squawka) October 29, 2023
– Bernardo Silva has provided more Premier League assists against Man Utd (5) than any other player since the start of the 2016-18 season. He joined in 2017-18.
– Haaland has now scored more Manchester derby goals (4) than Cristiano Ronaldo (3).
– Manchester United have now lost as many Premier League games at Old Trafford since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as they did during his 26 years at the club – via @footballontnt.
– Since Pep Guardiola joined Manchester City in 2016, they have earned 145 more points than Manchester United (649 to 504), winning 60 more games in the Premier League (205 to 145) while scoring 229 more goals (681 to 452) – via @OptaJoe.
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