Key events
74 mins: What a chance! And what a miss! Hojland plays the ball through for Bruno Fernandes, run and pass in perfect synchronicity. The Portuguese looks up, sees Ederson onrushing, and chips over him and … beyond the far post!
73 mins: “If there’s nothing worth watching at the Etihad for now, check out what’s happening north o’the border,” suggests Jeremy Boyce. “Celtic 3 – 3 Rangers, 10 yellow cards so far, missiles launched at the polis (who would have thought ?), proper derby, know what I mean?” Only a couple of minutes of extra time to play there in the League Cup final.
70 mins: Doku gets to the byline and sends in a cross which is fractionally too high for Haaland.
69 mins: Amad is looking lively, and much less offside, on the right for United. Gary Neville on Sky is certainly a fan. United could do with someone on the left to balance that width.
68 mins: De Bruyne goes off, signing off with a rising drive from 23 yards or so that rises well over the bar. Kovacic is on.
67 mins: Mateo Kovacic is about to come on for City.
65 mins: Looking back at that challenge, it is impossible to see how that wasn’t a foul on Hojland by Dias. Stuart Attwell, today’s VAR, quickly decides he doesn’t need to get involved.
64 mins: Now Hojland goes down in the penalty area, after Dias throws a leg across him in an attempt to get the ball. The referee gives a goal kick.
62 mins: Save! Amad’s header looked to be heading towards the post rather than the net, but Ederson makes sure. A good cross from Fernandes that time.
61 mins: Quite a lot of not a lot happening currently, which I suppose is fine from City’s point of view. “I guess there may be something the wider world doesn’t know about happening behind the scenes, but to deliberately leave out two attacking players who offer pace and the ability to beat opponents as well as a dozen goals between them this season against a City side struggling to cope with pace just seems plain weird,” writes Rick Harris. There’s a story to be told here, for sure.
59 mins: There has not been a massive qualitative improvement since half-time.
55 mins: Patient build-up on the right from United, and then Fernandes spoils it by biffing a ludicrous cross out of play.
54 mins: Anthony Taylor is giving too many free-kicks. Blowing whistles is fun and everything but let it flow, man.
53 mins: After a period of City pressure United win a free-kick, and Fernandes immediately gifts the ball back to them.
51 mins: Bernardo Silva beautifully nutmegs Diogo Dalot. Lovely stuff.
47 mins: United start on the front foot, but again they’re caught offside. Emails continue to arrive about Kyle Walker’s terrible head issue shortly before half-time.
“It would seem to be a very easy rule that anybody who simulates like Walker did should receive at least the punishment that they were trying to trick the ref into giving the other player,” suggests Adam. “So if you pretend someone headbutted you and fling yourself to the floor like a prat, off you go and have some time in the stands to think about what you’ve done.” It’s not a terrible idea. I’m always surprised that we don’t see more double-yellow cards – for example, Walker might have been booked for the foul on Hojland, and booked again for the aggression that followed it. The first booking might have been harsh, but if I were a referee I would have really enjoyed brandishing it.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! The game is back under way.
City finally join them on the pitch. “Let’s hope Kyle Walker got some half-time treatment for that badly brushed eyebrow,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “Get well soon, tough guy!”
United are back out, well before City.
This statistic is astonishing and damning. Manchester United might not have conceded the most goals from corners in the Premier League, but for Wolves (who’ve let in nine) it’s only 22.5% of their total, and while they have conceded 123 corners so far this season United, before today, had only conceded 70.
It has been, in truth, a poor half of football. Or a perfectly good half of poor football. One of the two. The goal owed a fair amount to luck, De Bruyne pretty much blasting the ball into the nearest defender and the deflection turning it into a masterful inch-perfect spinning wondercross, but Gvardiol’s header was very good. There is hope here for United, but if Amad Diallo is going to be the one making the key runs beyond the home defence he needs to time them better.
Half time: Manchester City 1-0 Manchester United
45+5 mins: The corner is taken short again, and returned to De Bruyne again. This time he’s fouled and the referee allows him to take, and waste, the free kick before blowing for half-time.
45+4 mins: From that free-kick, United mess up their attempt to play their way out from the goal kick and City end up with two minutes of possession and pressure, ending with Foden’s shot being deflected, and then saved. Corner.
46+2 mins: De Bruyne wins a free-kick on the right, pretty much on the spot where he took that shot a few minutes ago. He takes it, and sends it straight into touch.
45+1 mins: There’ll be four minutes of first-half stoppage time, or thereabouts.
44 mins: Amad Diallo is perpetually offside. The concept of holding his run seems entirely foreign to him. He’s caught offside again.
43 mins: Dalot’s back-pass forces Onana to come out wide of his area to prevent a corner. He then passes to Maguire, who isn’t really ready for it, whose blind pass goes straight to De Bruyne. Onana by this stage is running back to his goal, and De Bruyne’s first-time 40-yarder from the right touchline goes straight to him.
40 mins: The free kick is swung into the area, and seems to come off Mainoo and run behind. The refereed gives United a corner.
39 mins: Walker fouls Hojland, who leaps up and returns to confront him. The two players put their foreheads together, contact which ends with Walker flinging himself to the ground. It’s pretty shameful from Walker, and the referee isn’t fooled. Both players are booked.
38 mins: Now Kyle Walker is on the ground, the crowd is baying, and all 22 players run to join in with some handbags.
GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Manchester United (Gvardiol, 37 mins)
The home side open the scoring! It’s a corner, played short to Bernardo Silva and then returned to De Bruyne, whose cross deflects off Diallo and spins and dips onto the head of Gvardiol, whose header from six yards loops beyond Onana.
35 mins: Fernandes tackles Bernardo Silva from behind again, on the halfway line. This time he doesn’t get the ball, and City get a free kick.
