Erling Haaland and Phil Foden both scored hattricks to help Manchester City produce one of the high-scoring football results of the weekend in the Premier League. Foden (8, 44, 72 minutes), a homegrown City player, will have celebrated the outcome as much as anybody else in the Etihad, and this will go down as one of the best days of his 22-year-old career. Although he had never scored against United before, he got his team going before flying to 51 goals for his club while City humiliated their neighbors.
It was the first hat-trick of Foden’s career, but his amazing teammate Haaland is accustomed to scoring three goals in a row (34, 37, 64 minutes). The Norwegian made it a treble of trebles on Sunday with another fantastic display of advancing play after hitting three in each of his previous two Premier League appearances at the Etihad.
While City is having a party, United will be thinking back on yet another terrible first half. It could have been worse for the visitors at halftime with Ilkay Gundogan also striking the post from a free-kick, although not by much. However, City’s fourth straight victory in this match was never in doubt. They missed a stunning goal from new signing Antony (56), who pulled one back with a stunner from 25 yards, and two late consolation goals from substitute Anthony Martial (84, 90+1), including one from the penalty spot after he was tripped by Joao Cancelo. It served as a sobering wake-up call for those United supporters who may have been complacent following their four-game winning streak since they last trailed 4-0 after 45 minutes against Brentford.
Managers Reaction
Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag: “We didn’t have much faith. I’m puzzled as to why we chose not to bring it onto the field. Although it had been four weeks, I had witnessed a different team with a different attitude.”
Man City boss Pep Guardiola: “It was excellent. In the first half, we scored four goals, and we really should have scored more.”
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