HEAD-TO-HEAD How bosses fared
PEP Guardiola’s City comfortably got the better of Jose Mourinho’s United in the derby.
Here, M.E.N. Sport takes a look at how the two managers fared in yesterday’s Premier League clash. UNITED’S preparations were thrown off kilter by the absence of Paul Pogba. The man who netted a brace in April’s 3-2 comeback win at the Etihad Stadium was denied a return by the knock picked up in the midweek victory at Juventus. Marouane Fellaini came in as Alexis Sanchez dropped out in favour of Marcus Rashford. Sharp-shooter Aguero returned to the starting line-up despite Gabriel Jesus’ hat-trick heroics against Shakhtar Donetsk, while Riyad Mahrez was favoured in place of Leroy Sane. Mourinho game plan took a setback. Guardiola and Mourinho were on the touchline at the start, but the latter retreated, taking a seat between coaches Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna as he jotted down notes following the opener. United would react with a more solid shape and coherence in possession but struggled to create chances in a first half that only had one shot on target in total. Aguero rifled home as a lax United moment was lapped up by City, leading Mourinho to turn to substitute Romelu Lukaku. It paid immediate dividends as the striker drew a foul from Ederson and a penalty that Martial scored. Guardiola reacted by replacing the ineffective Mahrez with Sane, while Mourinho turned to Juan Mata and Alexis Sanchez. Aguero made way for midfielder Ilkay Gundogan – who scored City’s third.