Pep Guardiola said that Manchester City turned up when it mattered against Manchester United as they fight Liverpool for the Premier League title.
City went into this game with a strangely poor record in home derbies under Guardiola, having only won this fixture twice in five years under a manager who has steered them miles clear of their rivals in the table every year. A 4-1 win on Sunday went some way to improving that record and stretches the gap to 22 points which makes it even more inevitable that the Blues will finish above the Reds for a ninth straight year.
Guardiola said ahead of this gam e that as much as the supporters crave derby wins it is more useful for him as a step towards winning the league, and the three points took them six clear of Liverpool - albeit having played a game more. City's manager said after the game that previous defeats to United have been when they have already effectively been champions [the exception being 2019/20, when they failed to win the league], whereas now they know how good they need to be to keep Jurgen Klopp's team at bay.
