Man City Owns Old Trafford, Leaps Liverpool in the Process

It must be kinda weird for Red Devil nation to gaze upon the machine that is Manchester City and recall that's what they used to look like.

Up in the stands, Sir Alex Ferguson must be reminiscing, too.

Gotta wonder if he's thinking that's what his old side gets for signing a forward as manager instead of a defender.

Everyone else must be thinking that Ole Gunnar Solsjaer's best tactical move this season was forcing the issue of a new contract while the Devils were hot.

 

Someone played with a sense of urgency at Old Trafford, and it was the invaders who went on to make themselves at home with a 2-0 triumph that wasn't even that close.

One could easily say City's now painted the town blue.

 

United did display an aggressive posture themselves in the early stages. The visitors had issues getting into their attacking half as United's front-men were high-pressing Ederson and Vincent Kompany. 

However, the Devils soon fell into the form that's now seen them drop three of their last four matches. City took over and showed a hint of things to come when Pep Guardiola's crew had a major chance through Raheem Sterling, who missed it from eight yards.

Notice had been served, though, and fruition came after the interval. In the 54th minute, İlkay Gündoğan passed to Bernardo Silva down the right wing. The Portuguese international drove into the box drilled a low effort past David de Gea:

 

That goal allowed the Citizens to get comfortable, settle in, and start locking down the pitch.

Dudes were dominant enough to zeroed in on de Gea with additional pressure that soon paid off.

Sterling took possession on a counter and found Leroy Sané on the left. The German winger sprinted into the box and fired a heatseeker at de Gea, who got caught in no man's land and palmed it into the net:

 

That's how it ended, as United couldn't muster any sustained effort for the rest of the match.

This win enabled City to pass Liverpool for top spot at the moment. The Reds will return to the top quickly, though, as they'll get what's gotta be a gimme on Friday night at home against relegated Huddersfield.

As to United ...

They did themselves no favors.