Manchester City were held to a frustrating goalless draw against Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium, leaving the top four battle in the balance.
City came into the game on the back of a disappointing semi-final defeat to Arsenal in the FA Cup at Wembley Stadium, with Pep Guardiola’s men eager to make up for that performance with a win in the 174th Manchester Derby.
Manchester United, on the other hand, were on the back of a 2-0 win away to Burnley, which keeps them within distance of the top four. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba were both ruled out of this game through injury, so this was City’s chance to beat United and get some space between them and fifth place.
The game as a whole was dominated by City, with Sergio Aguero having the best chance of the game when he hit the post early on. United spent the majority of the game camped in their own half, and had to resort to counter-attacks to try and win the game. The lack of cutting edge was once again the downfall of City and Guardiola, as they failed to capitalize on a United team that went down to 10 men, with Marouane Fellaini sent off for headbutting Sergio Aguero after he reacted badly to a foul on the Argentinian seconds before.
Another negative for City from this game was the injury to Claudio Bravo after he injured his calf catching a cross, which means that he will most likely miss the rest of the season. A positive for the Citizens was the return of enigmatic Brazilian starlet, Gabriel Jesus, who almost gave City the win after he put the ball in the net, but it was unfortunately ruled out for offside. Another big game, another frustrating result.
Here are our City player ratings from the game:
