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Manchester, Oct 2 (IANS) Erling Haaland and Phil Foden both scored hat-tricks as defending champion Manchester City outplayed Manchester United 6-3 in the cross-town derby on Sunday to move up to the one-point behind leaders Arsenal in the Premier League.
City produced a blistering performance to dismantle Manchester United to emerge winners in front of a packed Etihad crowd. Man City now have 20 points from eight matches while Chelsea lead the table with 21.
The champions were 4-0 ahead at half-time after two goals apiece from Foden and Haaland, as United struggled to cope with the pace of their arch-rivals.
Antony got one back for the visitors early in the second half with a fine curling effort.
But Haaland and Foden completed their trebles to put City 6-1 up before Anthony Martial's close-range header and late penalty reduced the deficit.
It was yet another brilliant performance for City at the Etihad and a memorable victory for its fans as United had for years dominated the local derby.
Pep Guardiola's City started on a positive note and were almost ahead inside four minutes with a trio of chances in the space of a few seconds.
Haaland's header towards goal was cleared off the line but only as far as De Bruyne, whose powerful drive was saved by an off-balance David De Gea, before Bernardo's effort on the rebound was blocked when the Portuguese midfielder looked certain to score.
But moments later City were ahead. They moved the ball brilliantly from right to left, Bernardo found some space in a wide area and crossed for Foden, who produced a quite brilliant first-time finish past De Gea.
The pace and precision of City's passing game overwhelmed United, who looked overawed and bereft of any answers.
City continued to attack. Ilkay Gundogan hit the outside of the post with a fine free-kick after the lively Jack Grealish had been fouled by Lisandro Martinez, before Foden flashed one wide of the upright after great work from Bernardo down our left.
Only some backs-to-the-wall defending from United kept City at bay. Grealish got past Diogo Dalot inside the area but his shot was blocked superbly by Martinez, and seconds later De Bruyne's dipping effort from distance was tipped over by De Gea.
From the resulting corner, City's lead was doubled when Haaland scored with a powerful downward header, netting his 15th goal in 11 games for City. The City No. 9 then bagged his second goal three minutes later, stretching out a leg at the back post to turn De Bruyne's excellent delivery into the net.
City got their fourth goal when De Bruyne burst forward from midfield and released Haaland, whose delivery to the back post was hammered home emphatically by Foden.
United got one back early in the second half when Antony produced a fine curling effort that flew past Ederson and into the far corner.
United's reprieve didn't last long, however. Haaland, inevitably, completed his hat-trick, smashing the ball into the roo' of the net from Sergio Gomez's low cross to make it 5-1.
Foden followed suit soon after when he fired home from Haaland's through-ball to make it 6-1 to complete his hat-trick before United substitute Anthony Martial scored a diving header from close range and a late penalty to give United some consolation.
--IANS
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