Manchester City toast Ricky Hatton with knockout victory over Manchester United | OneFootball

Manchester City looked more like their old selves as they powered to a 3-0 win over arch-rivals Manchester United in Sunday’s derby.

On an emotional occasion following the death of Manchester’s former boxing world champion and City fan Ricky Hatton, Pep Guardiola’s side returned to winning ways.

Phil Foden opened the scoring in the first half before Erling Haaland took charge after the break, scoring twice and hitting a post.

It was a strong riposte by City after their Premier League title credentials had been questioned following successive defeats.

They were in a different class from United who, despite playing well in patches early on, capitulated in the second half and still seem a long way off the pace.

City clicking into gear as United difficulties continue

Both teams had made indifferent starts to the season with City surprisingly the lower in the table after those back-to-back losses. Manager Guardiola had described the fixture as “really important for us to change the dynamic” and so it proved as they ran out comfortable winners over their rivals, providing a reminder of their class. They will hope confidence is now restored ahead of crunch games against Napoli and Arsenal. United, by contrast, remain in a tricky position. Things may not look quite as gloomy as they did after last month’s shock loss to Grimsby but four points from four games does not make good reading and it would not take many more bad results for the pressure on manager Ruben Amorim to ramp up again. They have a testing clash with Chelsea next week.

Tale of two strikers

United gave a first Premier League start to summer signing Benjamin Sesko and he failed to catch the eye, although he was admittedly starved of opportunities. While United’s goalscoring difficulties continue, Haaland showed he remains the gold standard for strikers. The Norwegian was devastating in the second half and could have had more. He also underlined his value with some important defensive contributions.

Focus on the keepers

Attention was also paid to the goalkeepers as City handed a debut to Gianluigi Donnarumma but United kept faith in Altay Bayandir. Donnarumma looked as assured and confident as expected and made one brilliant save from Bryan Mbeumo. It was a more difficult afternoon for Bayandir and he may soon be feeling the heat from new signing Senne Lammens.

Is Foden back?

Foden has had a difficult time since his player-of-season heroics in City’s last title-winning season of 2023-24, hindered by fitness issues and unable to enjoy a run of games. Prior to this game, he had played just 15 minutes this season but his energetic all-round performance and crucial goal hinted that the midfielder could be on his way back.

Tributes to boxing great

The fixture allowed Manchester to pay tribute to Hatton following news of the former world boxing champion’s death. Hatton may have been one of City’s most famous fans but was not only adored by City supporters – he had a huge following across Manchester and beyond. It was poignant and fitting that Foden, a fellow Stockport native, should score on what was an emotional occasion with Hatton’s name chanted throughout.