Manchester United were outclassed by rivals Manchester City in Saturday’s Premier League derby as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer suffered another damning defeat at Old Trafford.
In their first home fixture since being hammered 5-0 by Liverpool in front of their own fans a fortnight ago, Solskjaer’ s men were dominated again, even if the scoreline was less emphatic as an Eric Bailly own-goal and Bernardo Silva’s strike earned City a 2-0 win.
Pep Guardiola left Jack Grealish out of his side as Kevin de Bruyne returned to the starting XI, while John Stones partnered Ruben Dias at centre-back, with Aymeric Laporte suspended.
Victor Lindelof was passed fit in time to start for United as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer stuck with a back-three, but was without Edinson Cavani at the other end of the pitch as Mason Greenwood joined Cristiano Ronaldo in attack.
Bailly had excelled in the Champions League in midweek when drafted into defence because of Lindelof’s knock but his afternoon got off to a disastrous start as he turned Joao Cancelo’s cross past his own goalkeeper to give City a seventh-minute lead.
United had David de Gea to thank for staying in the game as the Spaniard made a host of superb saves, keeping out De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus, while also reacting sharply to stop Lindelof adding a second own-goal.
Ederson was called into action at the other end to keep out Cristiano Ronaldo’s volley, the rebound coming too quickly at Greenwood for the forward to adjust and deflect home.
A sequence of shocking defending allowed City to make it two on the stroke of half-time as both Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire let a deep cross run through to the back-post where Silva was able to squeeze in past De Gea.
Solskjaer sacrificed Bailly at the break, sending on Jadon Sancho as he switched to a back-four but the move had little impact as City remained in control, though they were largely content to keep United at arms length, rather than going for the jugular.
There were still chances to add to the scoreline, however, with Phil Foden firing just wide before Stones did likewise from a set-piece late one.
