At 16 o'clock in the morning on March 20, GMT, a much-anticipated match in the 31st round of the 2015-16 Premier League season was played at the Etihad Stadium, which was the 171st Manchester derby, and it was also very likely that Van Gaal and Pei Shuai's Manchester derby curtain call.

Manuel Pellegrini was officially announced as early as February that he would be sacked at the end of the season, while Van Gaal, although there was no official announcement, and because Manchester United recently won eight consecutive games on three fronts, the results have bucked the trend and the position is temporarily secured, but it is still unknown whether he can stay at the end of the season.

There have been 170 meetings between the two teams in their history, with United holding the upper hand with 70 wins, 51 draws and 49 defeats. The two sides met in the first leg of this season, with Manchester United drawing 0-0 with Manchester City at Old Trafford.

However, Manchester United's advantage in terms of historical record is mainly due to the accumulation of the Ferguson era. Manuel Pellegrini has led Manchester City to five Manchester derby, with three wins, one draw and one defeat. As for the match with Van Gaal, the two sides were evenly divided with 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss.

In this game, both sides lined up a formation of 4231.

For Manchester United, this formation has become the regular formation of the recent winning streak, with Darmian, Blind, Chris Smalling and Rojo in the back four, Carrick and Schneiderlin in the back, Juan Mata up front, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard in the back, and Marcus Rashford up front.

Prior to Marcus Rashford's rise this season, Louis van Gaal's use of Juan Mata was very vague, playing in midfield and left and right midfield, perhaps with frequent changes, and Mata was very average in all positions.

However, since Marcus Rashford's rise, Juan Mata has largely settled into the midfield position. As for the centre-forward, Marcus Rashford has also been in his position, only occasionally switching positions with Anthony Martial in the game.

Manchester City, on the other hand, were injured by midweek centre-backs Vincent Kompany and Otamendi, with Demichelis and Mangala replacing them in partnership with Sagna and Klich at the back. Veterans Yaya Toure and Fernandinho played in the back two, David Silva played in midfield, sports car Keylor Navas and happy star Raheem Sterling played as wing-backs, and Sergio Aguero played as a lone striker.

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On paper, Manchester City's squad is stronger than Manchester United, and coupled with home advantage, all parties are still more optimistic about the home team Manchester City undefeated. The bigger variable is Rashford, who has been on fire to Mars recently, and I don't know if he can continue his hot form in this derby.

After the start of the game, Manchester City gave Manchester United a disadvantage to the cheers of the home fans. From the first minute of the game, they threatened the United goal.

After receiving a pass on the right flank, Keylor Navas burst forward and hoisted the ball into the six-yard box from the top right corner of the penalty area, where Manchester United right-back Darmian took the ball off the line and gave City a corner for the sake of safety.

However, David Silva's corner was unthreatening and was quickly cleared.

Manchester United, on the other hand, immediately launched a counterattack after withstanding Manchester City's smashing stick. Because of the recent consecutive victories, the self-confidence of the Manchester United players has been greatly improved, and the technical and tactical level shown is not bad.

In this game, everyone played very positively, unlike the last game against Liverpool at home, which showed some absent-mindedness, which may also have something to do with the fact that Manchester United did not take the lead in the score.

Under the influence of these two factors, Manchester United actually dominated the away game and suppressed Manchester City on the field.

In the end, though, it was Manchester City who were the first to threaten the goal.

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In the seventh minute of the game, Rashford tried to pass Demichelis's gear, but he saw through it, clamped his legs, and blocked the ball, but Rashford ran behind Demichelis, but the ball did not pass.

Sagna received the ball blocked by Demichelis and immediately distributed it to Yaya Toure. Yaya Toure was forced to play by two Manchester United players before passing back to centre-back Mangala. Mangala dribbled up with the ball to draw the attention of United's defence before playing a long ball to David Silva on the left halfway line.

David Silva is the brains of Manchester City, and his ability really doesn't speak for it, and he sent a very clever pass under the close guard of the tall Smalling, which broke through the United defence.

Raheem Sterling received the ball and swooped down the left flank, while in the middle and on the right, Sergio Aguero and Keylor Navas fired into the United penalty area, linking up with Raheem Sterling on the left.

Raheem Sterling, defended by Blind, barely managed to cross from close to the baseline, and Sergio Aguero stepped forward to fight for the spot, but the ball was cleared by Darmian, who was driven to the middle to make up the defense.

However, the Italian's hasty header was not far from the net and Keylor Navas got his hands on the ball near the penalty spot. Defended by three United players, he barely got up and fired into the far corner that eventually flew over the crossbar.

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Manchester City's quick counterattack scared Manchester United fans into a cold sweat, and the Manchester City fans at the Etihad Stadium let out earth-shattering cheers.

In the middle of the pitch, Demichelis was provoking Rashford with trash talk.

"Boy, put away your thoughts, we won't be fooled by you, this game, you don't want to break under my defense!"

Rashford turned his head to look at the arrogant Argentine, a little speechless. Throughout the Premier League, who doesn't know that he Demichelis is sparsely defensive? If he hadn't been Pellegrini's godson, how could he have played at Manchester City?

Just like him, dare to provoke himself? Rashford, who didn't open a plug-in in his previous life, scored past him, and now he is not unusual, even if he crosses the road.

However, Rashford didn't say anything, firstly, because there was no need to talk harshly, and secondly, De Gea had already opened the door and he was ready to answer.

However, it was in the middle of the goal that the United player received his first yellow card of the game.

When Smalling was defending Aguero, he kicked Aguero in the back without much need, and referee Oliver saw him and gave him a Topaz card.

City's subsequent free-kick was also unthreatening, but United intercepted the ball and counter-attacked.

Anthony Martial sent a pass through the City defence in the centre circle of the middle, and Jesse Lingard slotted through the gap quickly, only to be met by Demichelis who slotted the ball through Joe Hart.

After getting up, Demichelis looked at Rashford, who was not far from him, and said: "Boy, do you see, this game is not only you don't want to score, all of you don't want to score!" ”