Football Match Reports

The tide HAS turned and Manchester City are here to stay. The blue moon is rising, and there's no stopping it. The "plastic fan", "no history" chant is repeatedly aimed at Manchester City fans by the opposing fans, as if they suddenly materialised from thin air in 2008. As a reminder, City still hold the attendance record for a game outside Wembley, the 84,569 who crammed into Maine Road in 1934 for an FA Cup tie. It’s worth remembering that the “ultra-loyal” Newcastle fans averaged 16,879 in 1991, when in the second tier, while Spurs were getting 29,000 in 1998, and the last time United were in the second division for more than one season, in the 1930s, they averaged around 20,000. No history? Well, King George V chose Hyde Road, City’s first ground, when he became the first monarch to attend a game and if you go back even further into the Manchester Evening News archives you will find sepia-tinted clippings from 1902 when the club were raising mo...

De Bruyne's first-half masterclass, too much for Ljungberg's Arsenal.   Manchester City resumed normal service in the Premier League after an emphatic first 45' from Kevin De Bruyne led them to a 3-0 victory over Arsenal. In a tension filled atmosphere at the Emirates Stadium, it was Manchester City who came out on top against a rudderless Arsenal.  Arsenal had lost their last 5 games against City, including the League Cup Final, which was Pep Guardiola's first trophy at the Mancunian club. In Pep's 200th game in charge, Manchester City were hoping to keep a cleansheet, which they had failed to keep in the last 10 games. Coming into the game, both teams were not in great form. Arsenal's win at West Ham last week was their first in their previous 8 league games. Manchester City, on the other hand, had won only 2 of their last 5 games in the Premier League. Within the first few seconds, Martinelli bustled through, forcing a fine stop fr...

A Blue Moon, surrounded by Red Stars. United come out on top in the highly contested derby 1-2, courtesy of goals from Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial.  On a cold and crisp night in Manchester, it was the Red Devils who reigned supreme in the Manchester Derby. "Claustrophobically close, yet galaxies apart spiritually."  It was the 179th encounter between the "historic'' United team, and the "modern" City team and it did not disappoint. Luke Shaw made his first Premier League start since August. City goalkeeper Ederson was without a clean sheet in the last six games. A major attraction of the game was the matchup between Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Raheem Sterling, which Wan-Bissaka won more or less. He chased Sterling down wherever he went and made his life very problematic for ninety minutes. City had a strong start to the game, dominating possession as usual. It was a digging start for United but they found their feet in th...