How the result happened? Well a lot can be credited to Johnny Evans’ red card on 48 minutes. He brought down on-fire Italian Mario Balotelli when through on goal, with a red card being the only alternative for the referee. But City had already taken a first half lead through Balotelli after City had withstood some good United spells in the opening periods of the match.
Some of the United players have admitted going into the game with a hint of arrogance. Nani and Hernandez have vowed to never doubt their neighbors again, while Alex Ferguson has promised to bounce back from what he has labeled his “Our worst defeat ever”.
Ferguson also singled out Patrice Evra and Rio Ferdinand as culprits for the heavy defeat as they went ahead seeking goals for United, leaving City able to expose them on the break, which they did a hitman’s precision.
Balotelli had doubled City’s lead shortly after Evans’ red card, and Aguero added a third. Fletcher was able to pull one back for United. The result remained at 3-1 till injury time when City made use of United’s surge forward. A double from Dzeko and a goal by Silva completed a memorable 6-1 mauling.
Local pride wasn’t the only aspect affected by this match. City took a 5-point lead at the top of the Premier League, and more importantly, the goals created a 12 goal difference between them and United. That is a factor that could prove to be very valuable come the end of the season.
Sunday held another surprise in another derby where newly promoted QPR hosted neighbors Chelsea at Loftus Road. Referee Chris Foy was the center of attention as he awarded QPR a penalty, which Chelsea players feverously objected to (although replays show David Luiz needlessly bundled Helgusson down).
The referee then sent off Jose Bosingwa for bringing down Chelsea old boy Shaun Wright-Phillips when through on goal and Didier Drogba for a two footed challenge on Taarabt. With 9 men, Chelsea huffed and puffed in the second half but Anelka missed their best chance to equalize. Out of the starting eleven Chelsea fielded, goalkeeper Petr Cech was the only player not to receive a card!
A couple of hours before that match, to the Northern side of London, Arsenal recorded their first back-to-back wins since last February with a 3-1 win over resilient Stoke City. Robin Van Persie caught the eye again as he came off the bench to score a brace.
It has been sort of a golden patch for Van Persie. He has always been known as a prolific scorer, but since his red card against Barcelona in last year’s Champions League, he has been a different player.
Thirty goals in 36 matches is a wonderful record when the difficulties Arsenal are facing get taken into consideration. In total, he has scored 104 times for Arsenal in 243 games (averaging 2.1 goals in every 5 games). I believe Van Persie has been able to soothe the Arsenal faithful who seem to have found their new talisman after the noisy departure of Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona.
• Newcastle continued their excellent run of results with a 1-0 win against Wigan. The result keeps Newcastle undefeated and in fourth placing, gaining ground on the beaten Chelsea.
• But Newcastle were rocked by the news that striker Shola Ameobi (who scored the equalizer against Tottenham a week earlier) had suffered a hamstring injury and will be out for at least a month. This would put pressure on strikers Leon Best and Demba Ba to provide the goals for the Toon Army as they try to keep their good run going.
• Liverpool dropped points at Anfield again. Out of the 5 games played at Anfield, 2 have been Liverpool wins while 3 have been draws. All of which have been 1-1 score-lines with the latest being to Norwich City.
• Tottenham have become one of the form teams of the moment. After a bad start (3-0 loss to Man U, 5-1 loss to Man C), Spurs have transformed their season with 5 wins and a draw in their last 6 games. Sunday’s 2-1 away win to Blackburn reminded everyone of Van Der Vaart’s abilities when given space around the area as he scored a brace.
• Credit has to be given to WBA (West Bromwich Albion) as they recorded back to back midland derby wins. After last week’s defeat of Wolves, they took the trip to Villa Park to meet Aston Villa, and were able to turn a 1-0 defeat into a 2-1 win. The result saw WBA move into the top half of the table.
• Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger came out on Monday morning to say that he felt empathy for Manchester United and their fans after their 6-1 defeat to Manchester City. The Frenchman added that it reminded him of the 8-2 defeat his Arsenal had received at the same stadium 2 months ago.
If you ask me, I’d say Sunday’s shocker was even worse even though City didn’t match United’s 8 goals scored. City were at Old Trafford, it was a derby and all recent history pointed to a United win (Unlike Arsenal’s away loss to Man United where a United win was always on the cards, even if not with a 6 goal margin). But it seems the Frenchman wanted Sir Alex to feel a bit of his own medicine.