Phil Foden was sent off just 23 minutes into Sunday afternoon’s Manchester derby after kicking out at United captain Bruno Fernandes.
The pair clashed on the touchline with Fernandes initially aiming a sly dig at the City midfielder. Foden reacted by swinging his legs back towards Fernandes and the Portugal international collapsed to the turf writhing around in agony.
Referee Michael Oliver was quick to brandish the red card and his decision was backed by the VAR.
It was extremely harsh on Stockport-born Foden, whose presence brought some local involvement to the contest.
Former United defender Gary Neville, speaking on Sky Sports, said: “A painful moment for Foden to have to make that run down the long tunnel. I’m surprised Fernandes didn’t get a yellow for the kick on the floor, he’s certainly pulled a reaction out of Foden which will help his team-mates.”
Prior to the dismissal, it was United who had the better of the half chances created, although City’s Enzo Fernandez did see an early effort deflected wide.
Lisandro Martinez shot straight at Gianluigi Donnarumma before Diogo Dalot narrowly failed to get on the end of a lovely Fernandes pass.
MANCHESTER UNITED TEAM NEWS
Left-back Luke Shaw was once again absent from the United squad having also missed the Champions League win over Sabah.
United made three changes from that game, with Diogo Dalot and Harry Maguire replacing Noussair Mazraoui and Leny Yoro at the back and Marcus Rashford coming in for Benjamin Sesko.
Manchester United: Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Dorgu; Tielemans, Mainoo; Mbeumo, Fernandes, Rashford; Cunha.
Manchester United substitutes: Darlow, Heaven, Mazraoui, Yoro, Andrey Santos, Mount, Lacey, Sesko, Zirkzee.
MANCHESTER CITY TEAM NEWS
City boss Enzo Maresca made one change from the side that beat Porto 2-0 in the Champions League.
That sees Elliot Anderson come in for Ayyoub Bouaddi in midfield. Nico O’Reilly is fit enough for a place on the bench following a back injury, but Jeremy Doku again misses out.
Manchester City: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias (C), Guéhi, Gvardiol, Anderson, Fernández, Foden, Cherki, Semenyo, Haaland.
Manchester City substitutes: Rulli, Ndiaye, Kovačić, Reis, Bouaddi, O’Reilly, Allan, Khusanov, Lewis.
Man United v Man City stats, Premier League form
- United won this exact fixture last season 2-0 but haven’t beaten rivals City twice in a row at home in the Premier League since a run of three under Alex Ferguson from 2008/09 to 2010/11
- They have won nine of their 10 Premier League home games since Michael Carrick took charge in January (L1), scoring at least twice in each victory
- Their current three-match winning run at home has come despite conceding twice each time. United have not conceded at least two goals in four straight home league games since January 1972
- Carrick’s side have conceded twice in all three of their Premier League games this season, leaving them poised to ship at least two goals in their first four games of a league campaign for the fourth time
- The Red Devils previously did so in 1926/27 (first five games), 1930/31 (12) and 1969/70 (4), although their threat in attack is demonstrated by the fact they had the most attempts overall (68) and accumulated the second highest expected goals total (7.3) across the first three matchdays
- City have won one of their last four Premier League games against United (D1 L2), having won five of their preceding six (L1)
- They are looking to win each of their opening four games in a Premier League campaign for the seventh time, which would be the outright most of any side (Chelsea are also 6)
- The Cityzens have proceeded to win the league on two of those six occasions (2011/12 and 2023/24)
- Elliot Anderson has completed more passes while under high pressure than any other player in the Premier League this season (122), with United’s Youri Tielemans second in that respect (114)
- Erling Haaland has eight goals in seven Premier League appearances against Manchester United, although only two of those have come at Old Trafford
- Only Mohamed Salah (13) and Alan Shearer (10) have scored more against the Red Devils in the competition
Where to watch Man United v Man City: TV channel, live online streams
Kick-off on Sunday was at 16:30 BST (11:30 ET / 08:30 PT), with live coverage in the UK on Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Ultra.
Via Now TV, Sky Sports costs £14.99 for a day membership, £27.99 a month for a 12-month membership or £34.99 a month with no contract.
Here’s the full list of Premier League international broadcasters.
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