It's the year of Ashley Young at Old Trafford.
Manchester United look like absolute locks for top four, while Manchester City have a serious fight on their hands after the Red Devils put together a spectacular derby performance on Sunday. City struck first and dominated the opening 10 minutes, but totally fell apart soon afterwards, and United blasted their cross-town rivals en route to a 4-2 win.
It was actually City who got off to the much hotter start. They absolutely steamrolled United in the opening minutes, and by the time they scored a goal, they'd deserved two or three. Jesus Navas ran in behind the defense and forced a save out of David De Gea in the third minute, then Yaya Toure had a shot from close range blocked a couple of minutes later. City finally got their goal in the eighth minute, with James Milner and David Silva combining down the left flank to set up Sergio Aguero, who had a simple finish from the top of the six-yard box to put his team ahead.
But United fought back immediately, and were level by the 14th minute. The Red Devils strangely botched a free kick and were forced to send it all the way back to De Gea, but he hit a precise long ball up towards Marouane Fellaini. The massive Belgian knocked the ball down for Ander Herrera to cross towards Ashley Young, who tried a spinning backheel finish. His attempt was blocked, but he stuck with the chance, caught up to the ball and bundled it over the line.
From there, United were well on top and went ahead before the half-hour mark, with Young the star again. He played a brilliant exchange on the left wing with Daley Blind before hitting a cross to Fellaini, who rose up above Gael Clichy to head it into the back of the net. Fellaini appeared to be a hair offside, which would become a theme.
Thanks to an incident just before halftime, City can hardly claim that the officials favored United -- they just missed everything. Vincent Kompany probably deserved a straight red card for a very late and very high challenge on Blind, but Mark Clattenburg opted only to show him yellow after a lengthy consultation with his assistant. Kompany went on to be substituted at halftime, presumably due to injury concerns.
United nearly doubled their lead in the 53rd minute, when Joe Hart came up huge twice in 10 seconds. He made a great stop on a Wayne Rooney free kick, then an even better save on Michael Carrick's attempt from 12 yards out during the ensuing scramble.
The hosts didn't have to wait too much longer to add to their lead, though. Off a great quick move, Juan Mata scored his team's third, assisted by a great pass by Rooney. He blazed on through the City defense and passed the ball between Hart's legs for the goal, but he appeared to be a half-step offside on his run.
Once again, offside was a concern on United's fourth, but the linesman got the call right on Chris Smalling's goal. Smalling, along with other United players, moved past City's defensive line well before Young's free kick came in. But Eliaquim Mangala moved with them, playing everyone onside, meaning it was perfectly legal for Smalling to head Young's brilliant cross into the back of the net.
Things got mildly interesting late when Carrick had to walk off injured, taking United down to 10 men. City took advantage of that, with Pablo Zabaleta setting Aguero up for his second in the 89th minute. But it was a mere consolation goal for the visitors, who couldn't muster any further threatening attacks.
Manchester United : De Gea, Blind, Jones (Rojo 75'), Smalling, Valencia, Young, Carrick, Herrera, Mata (Di Maria 81'), Fellaini (Falcao 83'), Rooney
Goals: Young (14'), Fellaini (27'), Mata (67'), Smalling (73')
Manchester City : Hart, Clichy, Demichelis, Kompany (Mangala 46'), Zabaleta, Toure, Fernandinho, Milner (Nasri 63'), Silva, Navas (Lampard 74'), Aguero
Goals: Aguero (8', 89')
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2015/4/12/8393091/manchester-city-man-united-2015-results-score
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