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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Paul Clarke

Why Raheem Sterling struggled against Man Utd star Aaron Wan-Bissaka in Manchester derby

Aaron Wan-Bissaka has been hailed for his Manchester United performance in the battle against Man City star Raheem Sterling on Sunday afternoon in the 2-0 win at Old Trafford.

The England defender was given the task of trying to stop Sterling, who looked like a player of the year candidate at the start of the season before some more inconsistent play of late.

It was a tough afternoon for Sterling once again as he never looked comfortable against United, with Wan-Bissaka dealing with the forward tremendously well throughout the contest.

This led to praise aplenty from fans and now BBC pundit Jermaine Jenas, who analysed Wan-Bissaka's performance on Match of the Day 2 last night.

"We know he is good at defending but the battle versus Sterling was something I was really looking forward to. It was something which Wan-Bissaka came out on top of during the game," Jenas told the BBC.

"It was a difficult afternoon for Sterling, particularly in that first half. Wan-Bissaka did well with his body shape and he told Sterling where he wanted him to go. Fred was also biting at people's feet all day long on the back of that too.

"He (Wan-Bissaka) must be so annoying to play against because he doesn't give you a second to breathe. His legs are everywhere.

"This (passing in the final third) is something he needs to work on. He went forward but that pass (to Martial in the box in the first half) is not a difficult one. He needs to get his head up there and pick people out but he was a bit rash.

"The moment of the match is when Gabriel Jesus managed to get the other side of him but he made so much ground up to make the tackle. It was a big tackle in a big game for him, what a performance.

"If you look at Raheem's body movements for instance, he is throwing in movements to try and throw Wan-Bissaka off but he is just calm. He keeps his feet and gets low."

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