By Emmanuel Ebimoh
It had started snowing lightly at Old Trafford, home of Manchester United and venue of the first Manchester Derby of the 2017/2018 English Premiership season between Manchester United and Manchester City. The stadium was filled to capacity as more than 75,000 fans were seated to watch what was going to be a thrilling encounter. And yes, it lived up to expectations.
The match kicked off as expected with the visitors firing all the arrows with strings of fine interplay attacks, trying to dismantle the formidable defensive formation mounted by the home side, Manchester United. United obviously had only one thing in mind: to defend and catch their roaring rival on the counter-attack. The defensive game plan played well until the 43rd minute when the ball hit Romelu Lukaku in a defensive position from a corner kick and settled for David Silva who coolly put the ball in the net from close range.
Few minutes later, the home side responded when some poor defending from City gifted Marcus Rashford a fine finish in the box to make the score line even.
The second half began rather positively for Manchester United who looked determined to impress their singing home fans and perhaps get a win from their noisy neighbours. But after a free kick was played in by Kevin De Bruyne, another poor clearance by Lukaku gave the ball to Nicolas Otamendi, and the Argentine made no mistake in making it two for Manchester City. Indeed, it was a torrid day for the big Belgian.
Nicolas Otamendi celebrates his goal for City
Despite Jose Mourinho bringing on striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and playmaker Juan Mata late in the second half, it was almost certain that City would take the day.
Now with a stunning 11 points gap ahead of United at the top of the table, Manchester City seems to be cruising on their way to winning their 3rd league title in six years.
