Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hailed Fred as man of the match in Manchester United's derby triumph at City.
Fred started his ninth consecutive Premier League match in an axis with Scott McTominay and excelled against a porous City as United held on for a stirring 2-1 win.
Solskjaer has come to rely on Fred and McTominay in the absence of Paul Pogba and was delighted with the £52million Fred's performance. "Arguably man of the match today. He took the ball, he's playing against Kevin de Bruyne, probably the best player in the league and I thought he was excellent.
"It's great to see it, the boy deserves it. But when you get a run, and keep the team together, Scott and Fred have made a great partnership."
United secured successive league wins for the first time since March 2 at the Etihad Stadium, having beaten Tottenham Hotspur by the same scoreline in midweek.
Solskjaer made just two changes to the United XI by recalling Luke Shaw for his first domestic start in 15 weeks and swapping Mason Greenwood for the fit-again Anthony Martial. City defeated Burnley on Tuesday - a day before United narrowly saw off Spurs - and Solskjaer felt United's performance was all the more impressive due to the short recovery time.
"We don't have the amount of recovery these two teams have had," he said in reference to City and Spurs. "Twenty-four hours less recovery, it's hard.
"If you look at the physical output these boys put in, those 24 hours are a big, big advantage and you could see that towards the end today.
"But personally I'm just pleased for the boys, that they get confirmation in the direction we're going, that we do look like a Man United team and that's the big thing for me."
