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Key events
36 min Semenyo skips past Dalot and blasts a low cross that spins behind for a corner off the stretching Tielemans.
34 min City have arguably played better since going down to 10 men. As Gary Neville says, they’re moving the ball more quickly than earlier in the game.
32 min Fernandes reverses a lovely through pass to Rashford, who can’t quite control it on the stretch. The ball runs towards goal and Donnarumma flies from his line to dive at Rashford’s feet.
City have switched Rayan Cherki to the right, by the way, so they’re playing without a No10.
30 min “Simon McMahon’s point has been fully borne out by the madness of Phil Foden,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “A couple of yellows earlier would have stopped this pot from boiling right over so early. Instead, here we are now, chaos fully embraced. But entertained, admittedly.”
I think Foden’s reaction would have been the same regardless. There are certainly some games in which the referee loses control by not showing early yellow cards, but this feels like an isolated incident.
28 min Here’s what happened with the Foden red card.
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Fernandes shoved Foden over from behind near the touchline.
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As Foden fell, Fernandes had a short kick at the loose ball but instead caught Foden. (The alternative interpretation is Fernandes knew full well he was going to catch Foden and used the location of the ball as an excuse.)
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Foden rolled backwards and pushed his studs into Fernandes’s stomach. It wasn’t especially violent, but by the laws of the game it constitutes violent conduct.
27 min A City corner is cleared as far as Cherki, whose chest-volley is well blocked by Mainoo near the penalty spot. That might have been sneaking in.
26 min Although that was a clear red card, I really feel for Foden, especially in the context of his struggles over the past couple of years.
City might feel doubly aggrieved because of the red card that should have been shown to Diogo Dalot on this ground in January.
25 min Foden doesn’t want to leave the field and is eventually told to do one by a hard-faced Erling Haaland.
Fernandes definitely had a kick at Foden and it’s a surprise he wasn’t booked. Foden’s response was instinctive, unwise and a clear red card.
VAR are checking this. Fernandes had a little kick at Foden, though in theory he was going for the ball. Foden rolled over and then shoved his studs into Fernandes’s stomach. Good luck getting away with that.
Phil Foden sent off!
23 min Crikey, what’s happened here. Phil Foden has been given a straight red for lashing out at Bruno Fernandes.
22 min Dalot’s short backpass is read by Semenyo, who tries to find Haaland in the middle. But he doesn’t get enough on his lobbed cross, allowing Lammens – who was a long way from home – to claim.
At the other end, Enzo Fernandez makes a vital lunging tackle to stop Mbeum’o’s cross reaching Tielemans 12 yards from goal. He had to get that right.
21 min Rashford receives the ball from Cunha on the left side of the area, uses Dorgu by not using him and then cuts inside to hit a shot that is blocked at source by Nunes. Good defending.
United are the better team at the moment, though there isn’t a huge amount in it.
19 min A very dodgy touch from Bruno Fernandes goes straight to Haaland, who gallops towards the United area. Eventually he tries to find Cherki in space to his right and Martinez, well positioned on the edge of the area, intercepts.
18 min “Afternoon Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “I’ve not seen it, but one of my pet hates is how a challenge like the one you describe by Maguire in the second minute might result in a stern talking to, but the same challenge, or less, would result in a certain booking if made in the 88th minute.
“I appreciate the nuance, and referees not wanting to card players too early, but I also think it might help the game if they did. Though it didn’t help Scotland when they had virtually the entire game to score against the 10 men of Uruguay at Mexico 86 and qualify for the knockouts, and couldn’t. Not that I’m still thinking about that 40 years later, of course.”
The peerless football historian Cris Freddi reckons the referee pulled out the wrong card, then bottled it. I think he might be right, although it backfired because it gave Uruguay impunity for the remaining 89 minutes.
17 min Mainoo’s delicious cross is headed high and wide by Rashford. It matters not, for he was offside.
16 min “Someone needs to tell Elliot Anderson that there’s a line between physicality (‘embracing the chaos’ as his boss calls it) and grievous bodily harm,” says Justin Kavanagh. “The referee preferably, but not so far…”
15 min Foden curves away from Dorgu on the right and moves into the area with purpose. Martinez comes across to make an important challenge.
Foden has a terrific derby record, albeit mostly at the Etihad.
13 min Quite a cagey start overall. Erling Haaland is yet to touch the ball.
11 min Cunha breaks into space from midfield, only to drag a miserable long-range shot well wide. He had better options right and certainly left.
11 min Mbeumo is flattened by Anderson, who looks a bit manic and is probably one foul away from a yellow card.
9 min After a slow start, United are starting to get on the ball. Fernandes clips a teasing pass over the defence towards Dalot, who makes a terrific run infield but can’t control the ball in mid-air. Had he done so, he would have had a shooting chance. But it would have been a tough ball for Diego Maradona to kill, never mind Diogo Dalot.
7 min The resulting free-kick is taken on the right by Fernandes and retrieved on the far side by Rashford. He finds the supporting Martinez, who sweeps a left-foot shot from 25 yards; Donnarumma makes a comfortable save.
6 min Rashford stays down holding his head after being sandwiched by Semenyo and Anderson. I think he was accidentally caught by Anderson as he fell.
Either way, he’s fine to continue.
5 min Anderson’s first corner is headed behind for another. It’s taken short and worked across the field to Cherki on the right. His floated cross is eventually lumped clear by Dorgu.
3 min City have started well. Foden plays a perfectly timed lay off to Enzo Fernandez, whose shot from 20 yards hits Maguire and ricochets behind for a corner.
2 min And, as expected, Antoine Semenyo has started on the left for City with Phil Foden on the right.
Maguire chops Cherki down 40 yards from goal – a challenge which, in the opinion of Gary Neville on Sky, might have brought a yellow card had it not been so early in the contest.
1 min United kick off from left to right as we watch. Sounds like a cracking atmosphere at Old Trafford.
United have started with Cunha as their false nine. No funny stuff from Michael Carrick.
“Manchester Utd have to be physical,” writes AnhTuan Nguyen Huynh. “With Benjamin Sesko on the bench, City won.”
I’d politely – nay, meekly – disagree. I think they need pace on the counter-attack for the first hour. Sesko is rapid but I don’t know whether his movement in transition is as good as the other options. I suspect, had Amad Diallo been fit, United would have started Mbeumo up front. They may yet do that, with Cunha roaming from the right.
Ben Bloom
Match report: Coventry 0-5 Brighton
The bare statistic is bleak: Coventry City are only the second team in Premier League history to lose their first four games of the season without scoring in any of them. “And yet …” will be the enduring message from Frank Lampard.
And yet they have caused problems for opposition teams – even at points when down to 10 men here against Brighton. And yet they have already faced three of the top flight’s European contingent. And yet they are not playing that badly. But they simply cannot find the point, or even the goal, that would give their confidence a much-needed boost. And it does not take long for a promoted club’s relegation fears to turn realistic.
Enzo Maresca’s pre-match thoughts
[What’s the key on derby day?] Probably to keep the emotion away, but that’s not easy. Embrace the chaos – it’s a derby, it’s nice – and try to play our game.
I’m happy because we have different options [on the bench]. He [Ayyoub Bouaddi] played very well against Porto and is going to bring up a lot of happiness.
Man Utd’s tactics Given the success of Bryan Mbeumo up front against City last season, there’s a case for United starting with Matheus Cunha on the left and the speedier Marcus Rashford up front. We’ll see.
Some more pre-match reading
If you’re a Manchester United fan, or just a fan of great writing, I heartily recommend United Writing, a Substack written by my colleague (and mentor) Tim de Lisle. Here’s the latest piece on Sabah, Youri Tielemans and more.
Brighton’s fourth goal was a screamer from Lewis Dunk, of all people, prompting this email from Steve Bradfield.
Is Brighton’s fourth goal a slam Dunk for goal of month?
Full time: Coventry 0-5 Brighton
Brighton are up to fourth after hammering the bottom club Coventry, who remain stuck on nil points and nil goals.
Protest watch
Will Unwin, our man at Old Trafford, says the pre-match protests were “not as vociferous and well attended as previous protests”. Especially this one.
Will Unwin
Enzo Maresca has backed Elliot Anderson’s assessment that Manchester City are the “kings of Manchester” as he prepares for his first derby in charge of the club.
City travel to Old Trafford seeking to continue their perfect start to life under Maresca and further prove Anderson’s point. The 23-year-old midfielder made his claim on signing from Nottingham Forest for £116m in the summer and having witnessed City win eight Premier League titles during the past 14 years, compared with United’s one.
“I think Manchester City was unbelievable what they achieved. It’s normal when Elliot said that,” said Maresca. “If you go back it’s a different picture, but for me the reason he said that is because when he grew up Manchester City was dominant.”
Premier League latest: Coventry 0-3 Brighton “Feel free to just gloss over the other game today,” writes Eddy Nason. “Clearly nothing happening there (uncovers eyes to check how bad it’s getting).”
Yeah sorry, I’m not sure why we’re not covering that. But it’s a case of grim and grimmer for Coventry fans: their team are 3-0 down after 76 minutes and Taiwo Awoniyi has been sent off.
David Hytner
It was a sight the England press pack became increasingly used to seeing after the team’s World Cup matches over the summer. Kobbie Mainoo was invariably the first to leave the dressing room, walk through the mixed zone – eyes dead ahead, features impassive – and board the bus.
It was as if he could not get out of the stadiums quick enough and the further England progressed the more pronounced it started to feel. There was a real gap between Mainoo and the next England player to depart the stadium in the knockout rounds. The Manchester United midfielder is inscrutable, even in the heat of battle. It is part of his enviably unflappable temperament. It was no great leap to imagine what lay behind the mask – tremendous frustration as Thomas Tuchel kept on leaving him out.
Mainoo did not play a single minute at the tournament. He was an unused substitute all the way to the semi-final exit against Argentina, and when everyone expected to see him in the third-place playoff against France he did not make the bench. The Football Association said before the game he had picked up an unspecified injury.
For Mainoo it was a lost summer and yet it was physically and mentally draining all the same, what with the training and travel; the demand to stay focused as he waited and waited. .
Team news
United are without Luke Shaw, who has an unspecified injury, so Patrick Dorgu starts at left-back. So much for Michael Carrick repeating his tactics from the win over City in January; on that day Dorgu started as the left-sided attacker and scored the second goal. Dorgu for Shaw is the only change from United’s last Premier League game, the 2-2 draw with Everton a week ago.
Enzo Maresca makes two changes from Manchester City’s win over Coventry last weekend. Matheus Nunes replaces Abdukodir Khusanov at right-back; Phil Foden is preferred to Iliman Ndiaye in attack, which may mean a switch from right to left for Antoine Semenyo. The usual left-winger, Jeremy Doku, is still out with a calf injury.
Man Utd (4-2-3-1) Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Dorgu; Mainoo, Tielemans; Mbeumo, B Fernandes, Rashford; Cunha.
Subs: Andrey Santos, Darlow, Heaven, Lacey, Mazraoui, Mount, Sesko, Yoro, Zirkzee.
Man City (4-2-3-1) Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Guehi, Gvardiol; Anderson, Fernandez; Foden, Cherki, Semenyo; Haaland
Subs: Rulli, Ndiaye, Kovacic, Reis, Bouaddi, O’Reilly, Allan, Khusanov, Lewis.
Referee Michael Oliver.
Will Unwin
Manchester City have enjoyed a perfect start to the season without ever looking fully convincing in their victories. There are certainly more positives than negatives as Enzo Maresca learns more and more about his team. Against Porto they were sloppy for far too long and the midfield continues to look open, so a statement performance against their fiercest rivals would be ideal. The quality to rip open a team that has conceded two in each of their three Premier League outings thus far is there, and if it all finally clicks, then it could be a fine day for City.
Michael Carrick is in a not dissimilar position but only has four points to show for United’s indifferent efforts. There is always an underlying pressure for any Manchester United and he faces difficult league games today and next weekend at Fulham before an elongated international break. He can’t afford two defeats because there will be a long silence that will be filled with think pieces on the club because it is impossible to escape the noise at this club.
Jamie Jackson
Manchester United’s nine victories from 10 Premier League games at Old Trafford in 2026 cast their stadium as a fortress Manchester City aim to ransack on Sunday, to join Leeds in departing with three points during this calendar year.
Michael Carrick has overseen the division’s highest home points-per-game return in that span: 2.7, ahead of Arsenal’s 2.27 (from 12 matches) and Manchester City’s 2.25 (11); and his side have scored the most goals: 26, to City’s 23, and the champions’ 20.
A United fan group, the 1958, has called for a “peaceful protest” before kick-off, starting at a pub near the stadium, against what it believes is disproportionate action in the club’s drive to eradicate ticket touting. United said on Friday that 685 accounts had been subject to a ban and 464 supporters had received a reduced sanction or final warning.
Preamble
Can you have a must-win game in September? How about a mustn’t-lose match? This Manchester derby feels close to the latter for United, who have made a false start to Michael Carrick’s first season as full-time manager and already trail City by five points.
It’s not all doom and gloom for United. They’ve scored nine goals in two home games, and their form at Old Trafford since Carrick took over has been terrific. They’ve won 10 out of 11, including a rousing 2-0 demolition of City in his first match back in January. United counter-attacked to devastating effect in that game; a degree in rocket science is not required to work out Carrick’s tactics today.
City have recovered well after being battered by Arsenal in the Community Shield. You can’t ask for more than three league wins from three, even if the fixtures have been relatively kind. For both sides, this should be a useful health check.
Kick off 4.30pm.
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