City inflict more pain on United, Solskjaer
MANCHESTER, England (AP): AFTER MORE than 30 months, a Manchester derby has been won by City in the Premier League again.
Not that it has proved too painful for Pep Guardiola struggling to beat Manchester United. After all, he has collected the English Premier League trophy twice in that time and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has won nothing with United.
City’s 2-0 victory over United yesterday leaves Solskjaer’s position as United manager looking even more precarious on the face of it – especially following a 5-0 humiliation to Liverpool in the previous game at Old Trafford two weeks ago.
But United have provided no indication that they are willing to discard Solskjaer after three years.
Perhaps it is down to the crowd having yet to turn on Solskjaer, despite another game when United looked bereft of ideas and were completely outplayed by an archrival who had lost to Crystal Palace the previous weekend.
The misery began after seven minutes when Eric Bailly accidentally diverted João Cancelo’s cross into his own yet. Goalkeeper David de Gea, whose saves had limited the damage, was caught out at the near post in firsthalf stoppage time by Bernardo Silva squeezing a shot in from another of Cancelo’s deliveries from the left flank.
BOOED OFF
United were booed off at halftime, but there was never any obvious dissent towards Solskjaer from fans who remember him fondly for scoring the goal that clinched the 1999 European Champions League title.
The crowd was remarkably patient despite seeing only a single shot on goal from United when a first-time volley from Cristiano Ronaldo was pushed wide by Ederson in the 26th minute.
“The best way to silence Old Trafford is to have the ball with a lot of passes and attack the box in the right moments and we did that,” Guardiola, City’s manager, said after their first league win over United since April 2019. “We played a really good game.”
United, who had beaten Tot ten ham the previous Saturday, head into the twoweek international break still in fifth place but nine points behind Chelsea, who were surprisingly held 1-1 at home by Burnley. City in second place surged six points in front of United.
“It’s very disappointing and it feels like after last week we made a step or two forward,” Solskjaer said. “Results-wise, it’s a big step backwards. But it’s probably for me a way of losing that we don’t like. When you lose a game against a good team, you want to see a better Man United team than that.”
MANAGERIAL MOVES
Norwich fired Daniel Farke as manager despite finally winning their first game of the season in the league’s 11th round. Mathias Normann’s solo effort and Teemu Pukki’s penalty clinched a 2-1 win at Brentford in a meeting of promoted clubs.
But while Brentford are in 14th place, Norwich are seven points behind in the 20th and last place. Farke leaves after more than four years in charge that have seen him twice lead the eastern English club into the Premier League.
Only a superior goal difference is keeping Newcastle off the bottom of the standings after drawing 1-1 at Brighton.
Leandro Trossard’s penalty for sixth-place Brighton was cancelled out by Isaac Hayden’s volley in the 65th.
Liverpool can trim Chelsea’s lead to one point by beating West Ham today.
Patrick Vieira’s transformation of Crystal Palace is making an impact. Wilfried Zaha and Conor Gallagher scored in a 2-0 victory over Wolverhampton yesterday to follow up on a triumph last weekend at Manchester City. It’s now six games unbeaten for south London club Palace.
“We know the team has potential and the potential is starting to be seen,” Vieira said, “but we still need to keep that work ethic and momentum going.”