Manchester City unstoppable after derby victory at Old Trafford

Each week, ‘In On Goal’ co-hosts Colin Murray and Dion Dublin give your their expert reaction and analysis from the weekend’s Premier League football. Don’t forget to tune into ‘In On Goal’ every Friday for your weekly football fix with previews and predictions of the weekend’s Premier League action.

It was the game that Manchester United had to win.

Not only was it the first derby of the season against their neighbours from the other side of Manchester, but also the first game of the season against the in-form team to beat at the top of the table. The team to take points off to keep themselves in the title race.

We said last week that should City beat United and make the 8 point gap at the top into 11, it would be game over as far as the title race is concerned, and that’s exactly what happened.

Even Jose Mourinho admitted after the game that it’s all over, and he won’t have said that easily. They may as well commission the engravers to start writing Manchester City’s name on the Premier League trophy now as they won’t be caught by anyone.

Manchester United had the chance to bring that gap at the top down to 5 points and they didn’t do it. There’s no shame in that though, because Manchester City are just on a different planet this season. They are head and shoulders the best side in the league this year and their record speaks for itself.

That record being 14 consecutive Premier League wins which is what they set yesterday, and they did it at Old Trafford which must make it even sweeter for the City fans.

The interesting thing now is the battle for the remaining Champions League places which could conceivably involve most of the top half of the table! That’s how tight it is. Just seven points separate United in second and Burnley in seventh.

Ordinarily you’d draw the line there, but then just 5 points below Burnley you’ve got Leicester on 23 points and Watford on 22. Are you going to rule them out?

Personally, I don’t think Watford will keep up the pace, but Leicester under Claude Puel with Vardy, Mahrez and Gray look fantastic and are fully capable of inching up the table and playing with the big boys if they continue with the form they’re demonstrating at the moment.

In the first of two big clashes in the North West yesterday, Everton made the short trip across Stanley Park to Anfield for the first Merseyside Derby of the season which promised more than it delivered. For 75 minutes it was one way traffic with Liverpool mounting attack after attack on their neighbours, but the visitors defence held up until the brilliant Mo Salah broke the deadlock just before half time, with a beautiful curling left foot effort which looped over Jordan Pickford.

Everton provided very little going forward and had obviously been well drilled by new boss Sam Allardyce to just sit deep and get bodies behind the ball and it worked. They frustrated Liverpool, who played only 2 of the fab 4 and must now regret their team selection which didn’t manage to capitalise on their hugely one sided possession. Their best player, Mo Salah, was then substituted in the 67th minute and replaced by Firmino with Jurgen Klopp obviously confident his side had done enough to take all 3 points.

It wasn’t to be though, thanks to a stupid challenge by Lovren with 15 minutes to go when he pushed Dominic Calvert Lewin in the box to give Everton a penalty and a lifeline in the game. Rooney converted the spot kick and it was all level and finished that way, much to the relief of the Evertonians and the frustrations of Klopp and Liverpool who were well and truly Big Sam’d.

At the other end of the table, Swansea’s win over West Brom has thrown their under pressure boss Paul Clement a lifeline, and moved the Baggies into a very precarious position. Pardew’s new side currently sit in 17th place just 2 points above Crystal Palace at the foot of the table and results certainly didn’t go for them this weekend.

They would have banked on West Ham getting nothing against Chelsea on Saturday, but David Moyes certainly seems to have instilled some steel into the Hammers who beat Chelsea at the London Stadium in what must have been a coupon buster for most. West Ham look an entirely different side to the one that got hammered at Goodison less than 2 weeks ago, so maybe David Moyes will be there longer than many would have predicted when he was appointed a few weeks ago.

Don’t forget to tune into ‘In On Goal’ every Friday for your weekly football fix with previews and predictions of the weekend’s Premier League action.