Erling Haaland shines as City down United on Sir Bobby Charlton's night

Erling Haaland celebrates after powering City past United at Old Trafford on Sunday. Manchester City won 3-0. (Photo credit: GOAL)

The Manchester Derby is one, like many others, that throws form and pedigree out of the window when it shows up, but the latest one didn’t surprise too many people.

Before we dive deep into what happened at Old Trafford on Sunday, a day the Red Devils and the rest of the world paid tribute to the finest Englishman to ever play the game, Sir Bobby Charlton, we look at one other result of the weekend.

Everton shocked West Ham at the London Stadium. Like Brighton, the Hammers are struggling with juggling league and European duties, but they’ve been there before; they’re the reigning Europa League champions, and the home loss to Everton shouldn’t be happening.

Back to Old Trafford, where a black armband and a round of applause before kickoff showed up, and with every important name at the arena for the game, it was down to Manchester United to honour their own on the pitch.

Manchester City missed Manuel Akanji, who was sent off last weekend against Brighton, and United had Mason Mount and Antony on the bench, with Harry Maguire and Johnny Evans pairing in defense. It was going to be a huge test, but the visitors didn’t sweat at all.

Rasmus Hojlund held Rodri in the United area midway into the first half, and a VAR intervention led referee Paul Tierney to the monitor, and he subsequently pointed to the spot. Andre Onana got a yellow for his antics before Erling Haaland stepped up, but he couldn’t repeat the midweek heroics as City led 1-0.

The first half was all city, with Onana making important stops, but the second half got even better for the visitors. Hojlund broke free once in the first half, but that was as far as it got for him in the game. Marcus Rashford was a passerby, and Bruno Fernandes had more complaints than touches in the game.

Haaland headed home from a pinpoint cross from Bernardo Silva, and Phil Foden made sure of the points with ten minutes left on the clock, having been gifted a neat near-post pass by the impressive star striker Erling Haaland.

Ederson only had one major save to make in the game from Scott McTominay, and United didn’t offer anything of note to pay tribute to Sir Bobby Charlton. The loss left United in 8^th place, eleven points off Spurs at the top, and you wonder where they go from here.