AGUERO ON LATE TO LAUNCH A PEP RESCUE Striker needs just six minutes to make his mark after Gabriel misses penalty

minutes. Besic was fortunate to escape with just a booking and Laporte managed to get to his feet gingerly.

Henderson was fired up against City and saved from Raheem Sterling and then blocked Nicolas Otamendi’s overhead kick with his legs.

City thought they had made the breakthrough when Chris Basham felled Riyad Mahrez for a penalty after the tricky Algeria winger had beaten John Egan and Enda Stevens.

Jesus’ spot-kick was too close to Henderson and he dived to his right to push it away for his third failure from his last 10 attempts, with Guardiola appealing it should have been retaken because the Blades keeper was off his line.

He had a valid point and replays showed that Henderson was a good yard at least off his line.

The home fans did not care and the roar from them nearly took the roof off Bramall Lane.

Jesus’ miss fired up Wilder’s side even more and they snapped into challenges, sometimes illegally as Ollie Norwood and John Fleck joined Besic in referee Lee Mason’s book.

City kept searching for a goal and Rodri glanced a header just wide before he crossed for Jesus to connect with a header, which was saved by that man Henderson.

United were millimetres away from scoring when Oli Mcburnie just failed to connect with Stevens’ cross in front of goal.

Guardiola threw on Aguero with a quarter of the game remaining and he scored on 73 minutes.

Kevin De Bruyne, who had been quiet by his god-like standards, played a lovely ball across goal – pitched perfectly between Henderson and his defenders – for Aguero to tap in and break the hearts of the brave Blades.

Rodri went close to quickly doubling the lead but flashed a header from a corner over the bar.

Typically solid defending by Jack O’connell denied Sterling a goal after Laporte completed 78 minutes on his comeback. stopper also saved from Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Otamendi to frustrate the champions.

Guardiola brought on Aguero and he scored within six minutes of his introduction with his 21st goal of the season.

Aguero underlined his importance to Guardiola and City and the Argentinian has netted seven times in his last four appearances. Aymeric

Laporte made a successful return after being out since the end of August with a serious knee injury.

Laporte started in place of the injured John Stones and played for 78 minutes before Guardiola took him off.

But his comeback was nearly over after 12 minutes when Mo Besic cut him down with an awful challenge and the Blades midfielder was lucky to escape with a booking.

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