- AP Photo/Dave Thompson
Jakarta – Manchester City came from behind to secure a crucial Manchester derby win at the Etihad Stadium, with Phil Foden’s two second-half goals seeing his side come from behind to secure points once again in their quest for a fourth consecutive top-flight title – something no club has ever achieved in England.
Manchester United had been unbeaten in their last 143 Premier League matches when leading at half-time (W123, D20) – a record dating back to 21 September 2014 against Leicester City (lost 5-3), as reported from the Analyst site.
Manchester City vs Manchester United
- AP Photo/Dave Thompson
Now in the final stretch of the season, single results can have a big say in the title race. Just before Foden’s 56th-minute equaliser, they’d moved from favourites for the Premier League title with the Opta supercomputer pre-match (47.6 percent) to second favourites (40.5 percent) behind Liverpool (44.7 percent).
Now, following this comeback victory, they are once again favourites at 52.9 percent.
Marcus Rashford opened the scoring with a sensational long-range strike on eight minutes. It was his fifth goal in a Manchester derby, with only five players scoring more in league competition for United against City in history.
It was the 12th time that Man City had fallen behind in a Premier League game this season.
Only in 2019-2020 have they done so more in a single league campaign under Pep Guardiola, and that was the last campaign in which they did not win the title.
However, unlike that season (just 10 points recovered from losing positions), City have been able to recover from falling behind in 2023-2024 – only Liverpool have won more points from behind than City.
If Rashford’s strike was deemed difficult to score, Erling Haaland’s shocking open-goal miss on the stroke of half-time was one of the easiest he’ll ever be presented with in the Premier League.
That was one of 18 shots than City attempted in the first half – the most Man Utd have faced in the first half of a league game in 15 years.
Obviously, as we pointed out earlier this week, this is a Manchester United team that face a lot of shots, and the second half continued in the same vein.
It was with their 21st shot that they finally scored via Foden’s rocket into the same top corner that Rashford had opened the scoring in.
Four shots and 24 minutes later, Foden scored again – his 18th of the season in all competitions and his best return in a single campaign at the club.
