45′ + 1′ The referee ends the first half.
45′ There will be one minute of added time.
R. Lukaku
Yellow Card
45′ Lukaku catches Kompany late and goes into the book.
43′ MISS! Gundogan peels off the back of Pogba to latch on to Fernandinho’s cross from the right. Either side of De Gea then it’s a goal, but he nods his effort straight at the United keeper.
41′ CHANCE! Sane surges into the left inside channel and pulls the back into the box. Sterling latches on to the the ball, which is slightly behind him. As a result, he can only fire a tame effort straight De Gea.
39′ David Silva creates space down the left and manages to win a corner for the home side off the legs of Valencia.
38′ STAT! Sterling has provided more assists this season (eight) than in any other previous PL campaign.
Ander Herrera
Yellow Card
37′ Herrera goes into the book for a loose challenge on Fernandinho.
37′ Smalling and Bailly are all over the place at the back. They’re leaving a chasm through the middle, which City are exploiting with ease.
36′ OVER! David Silva latches on to a fine throughball from Fernandinho and he feeds a pass to Sterling. The England man has work to do, but he can only blast his effort over the bar.
33′ MISS! City cut their way through the United defence as David Silva releases Sterling down the middle. He only has De Gea to beat, but he blasts his strike over the bar. Pressure came from Bailly as he struck, which may have just been enough to distract him.
32′ The Ethiad Stadium is rocking now. United are on the ropes, with their rivals in full flow.
30′ GOALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!! GUNDOGAN!!!!!!! City have their second and are on their way to the Premier League crown. De Gea puts United in a world of trouble with a poor clearance. Sane breaks to the edge of the box before being felled. The referee plays advantage and it allows Sterling to feed Gundogan. He turns his way past Herrera in the box with a neat piece of skill before burying his effort past the United keeper.
İ. Gündoğan
Goal
30′ Goal İlkay Gündoğan
R. Sterling
Assist
30′ Assist Raheem Shaquille Sterling
27′ Sane breaks down the left, but as he approaches the edge of the box the German gets crowded out. Fernandinho challenges Pogba to stop a counter, conceding a free-kick.
V. Kompany
Goal
25′ GOALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!! KOMPANY HEADS CITY AHEAD!!!! A huge moment for City as the skipper rises at the corner to power a header past De Gea. Sane’s cross was on point and the Belgian managed to get a march on Smalling. He met the ball in the air and powered his effort into the net before De Gea could react.
L. Sané
Assist
25′ Assist Leroy Sané
25′ City win a corner down the left flank and Sane will whip a cross into the box.
24′ OFFSIDE! Sanchez floats the ball forward for Lukaku, but the Belgian is well offside as he collects in the box.
23′ Danilo dives in on Sanchez and hands a free-kick to the visitors, which Sanchez will take.
22′ SAVE! Bernardo Silva is denied by De Gea. Sterling steers a low ball into the feet of the Portuguese who has to slide to make contact. He gets decent contact on the ball, but not enough to beat the United keeper.
20′ Pogba loses out to Sterling, who raids forward to the edge of the box before teeing up David Silva. He goes for the strike on his left foot, but fires his effort well wide of the target.
19′ Herrera wins the ball back for the visitors and offloads to Pogba. However, the Frenchman is closed down by Danilo before he can pick out Lukaku.
17′ City are moving the ball well in their own half, but United are providing stubborn resistance when they push forward.
15′ Kompany gives the ball away on the edge of his own box. Only a solid challenge from Fernandinho prevents Herrera from capitalising.
14′ Sterling tests Young once again down the flank, but this time he is guilty party as he fouls the United man in their jostle for possession.
13′ Sanchez swings the cross into the box from the free-kick, but it’s an easy claim for Ederson.
13′ Pogba draws a foul from Danilo down the left flank. It will hand United a free-kick in a decent position.
12′ Danilo sends a low cross to the back post, but Herrera on the slide knocks the ball into the air where De Gea can claim.
9′ Young is in the action down the flank for United as he brings down Sterling. The officials fail to spot the foul and the left-back can breathe again. City will make a point of targeting him there though.
8′ Gundogan latches on to a poor clearance by Young, but the full-back atones for his error by clearing the danger ahead of the German.
7′ City are establishing a possession game and are pushing their rivals back towards their own goal.
5′ PENALTY SHOUT! David Silva breaks down the left and slides a low ball across the face of goal. Young slips in the middle and City go up for a penalty for handball, but the referee waves away their appeals.
4′ Pogba wastes an opening to release Lingard over the top. He offloads to Sanchez, who looks for the pass, but Kompany makes the interception.
3′ Danilo goes for goal from distance and hammers his effort straight into the stand behind the goal. It has been a balanced start to the game.
1′ We’re underway at the Etihad Stadium.
There will be a minute’s applause for Ray Wilkins following his death during the week.
STAT! Manchester City have won 27 league games so far this season – their record for most wins in a single top-flight season is 28 in 2011-12 campaign. They had to wait until matchday 38 for their 28th and final win that season.
FLASHBACK! City recorded a 2-1 meeting over United in their meeting at Old Trafford earlier in the season. David Silva put City ahead, only for Rashford to equalise before the break. A goal from Otamendi proved to be the decisive moment, handing Guardiola’s men the three points.
STAT! Man City are unbeaten in their last 27 home league games (W22 D5), winning the last 14 in a row. Only twice has a team ever had a longer winning run at home in the Premier League (Man City 20 between March 2011 and March 2012, and Man Utd 19 between October 2010 and October 2011).
STAT! Manchester United have lost eight of their last 13 Premier League games against Man City (W3 D2) – their previous eight top-flight defeats against Man City came over a 49-game period stretching back to March 1978.
There are two changes for United from their win over Swansea. Bailly and Herrera come into fold, with Mata and Lindelof making way this evening.
City have made four changes from their defeat at the hands of Liverpool during the week. Danilo, Delph, Sterling and Bernardo Silva come into the side, while De Bruyne, Walker, Jesus and Laporte drop to the bench.
Manchester United subs: Victor Lindelof, Marcos Rojo, Juan Mata, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Scott McTominay, Joel Pereira.
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-3-3): David de Gea; Antonio Valencia, Chris Smalling, Eric Bailly, Ashley Young; Ander Herrera, Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba; Jesse Lingard, Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez.
Manchester City subs: Claudio Bravo, Kyle Walker, Sergio Aguero, Aymeric Laporte, Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Yaya Toure.
MANCHESTER CITY (4-3-3): Ederson; Danilo, Vincent Kompany, Nicolas Otamendi, Fabian Delph; Ilkay Gundogan, Fernandinho, David Silva; Bernardo Silva, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane.
The team news has been announced and we’ll start with the home side.
United come into the contest fresh off back-to-back wins in the Premier League over Brighton and Swansea. They barely had to break out of first gear in both matches, but a stronger effort will be required to thwart City’s attempt to seal the crown.
Mourinho will be desperate to play the role of spoiler at the Etihad Stadium. He has done so in the past when his Chelsea side defeated Liverpool, which allowed City to go on and win the title in the 2013/14 campaign. The Portuguese will certainly adopt a defensive strategy to frustrate his rivals this evening.
Guardiola added further fuel to the fire in this contest by suggesting that he was offered Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in January. Pogba has been off the boil this term for United, but remained at the club in January. Mkhitaryan moved on to Arsenal after an underwhelming period at Old Trafford.
It will be interesting to see how those words went down with Jose Mourinho and his players.
City need to bounce back from their stunning 3-0 defeat at the hands of Liverpool during the week. Their hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League are in doubt after the Reds hammered them at Anfield. City were off the pace and vicitimised by Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Guardiola has to see a response from his side this evening.
Pep Guardiola and his team know that a victory over their bitter rivals will see them crowned Premier League champions for a third time. They’ve been unstoppable all season and it will be sweet for the Sky Blues to seal their title with a win over United.
Good evening and welcome to the live commentary of the Manchester derby between Manchester City and Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium.
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