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Manchester United Manchester City at Old Trafford on Sunday night. With top spot in the Premier League table up for grabs, neither side were able to create many opportunities in a game that hardly saw many shots on target. The result puts City back on top in the table – above Arsenal only thanks to goal difference – while United are now fourth behind West Ham on goal difference.
Squads
Manchester United: De Gea; Valencia, Jones, Smalling, Rojo; Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin, Mata, Herrera, Rooney; Martial
Manchester City: Hart; Sagna, Kompany, Otamendi, Kolarov; Fernando, Fernandinho, Sterling, Toure, De Bruyne; Bony
First Half: Zero shots on target the story of the half
The first half started in a feisty manner with a number of fouls committed in the first five minutes itself. United had a call for a Fernandinho handball at the edge of the box in the eighth minute, but referee Mark Clattenburg waved it away. City then had a chance in the 12th minute when Raheem Sterling played a neat one-two with Yaya Toure to escape three United players only for his shot from inside the box to be deflected away for a corner kick.
Fernandinho then received the first yellow card of the match after Anthony Martial was fouled near the touchline in the 15th minute. Aleksandar Kolarov was then flagged for bringing down Valencia on the right flank. Juan Mata took the free kick but it was cleared and City managed to counter with Bony, De Bruyne, Sterling and Toure but were eventually thwarted by the United defence.
Martial lifted the side with a superb run through the defence in the 25th minute, leaving behind a trail of City defenders in his wake but United failed to capitalise on the opportunity when Mata lost the ball under pressure. Rooney required treatment when he clashed heads with Vincent Kompany with the English captain coming off worse. He had to go to the touchline to treat the cut and the medical staff had to staple his skin above the right ear before he came back on the pitch.
Juan Mata was the next player to go into Clattenburg's book. He was dispossessed by Fernandinho and the Spaniard fouled the Brazilian midfielder when he made a run towards United’s box. The resultant free-kick was deflected for a corner and then Toure’s towering header from the delivery was just wide of the post.
Vincent Kompany then got in trouble as well after bringing down Martial near the touchline at the stroke of half-time. It was a rash tackle with no attempt to get the ball and Clattenburg had no problems bringing out a yellow card from his pocket.
Half-time: Manchester United 0-0 Manchester City
Second Half: Substitutions fail to make an impact
With zero shots on target from both teams in the first half, the second half also started in the same vein. United had the early runnings, winning two corner kicks in quick succession, one after Ander Herrera’s shot was blocked. Chris Smalling came close with a header but his header went just wide of Hart’s post.
With City not making any headway, Pellegrini brought on Jesus Navas for Sterling. Both teams continued to win free-kicks as they tried to launch attacks. Louis van Gaal then replaced Juan Mata with Jesse Lingard and, less than 10 minutes later, Marouane Fellaini came on for Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Neither team threatened to score as they looked for openings and one moment of inspiration. But there were none. Even one moment where Rooney had a chance to score with a first-time shot in the box opted to hold the ball and cross instead. Yaya Toure soon gave way to Martin Demichelis while Valencia was taken off after an injury and replaced by Matteo Darmian.
It was clear that City were missing the services of Sergio Aguero and David Silva while United simply didn’t look like they would be able to trouble the City defence and Joe Hart. All that changed in the 81st minute when young Lingard made a diagonal run across City’s defence and Martial looped the ball from the opposite flank over the back line. Lingard got a foot to it to try and dink it over Hart but was denied a goal by the crossbar.
Hart was busy again when he had to fend off an effort from Smalling inside the box. The England goalkeeper had to get down low to make the save and force a corner. Morgan Schneiderlin then went into the book for a foul on De Bruyne as they tried to launch a counter-attack.
In the end, even four minutes of added on time wasn’t enough to force a result as both sides shared the spoils.
