Man United flying high after City win

MANCHESTER, England — It was a very good day for Manchester United in the English Premier League, whose revival under Erik ten Hag is really taking shape.

As if victory against Manchester City in the 189th Manchester derby wasn't enough for fans rejoicing at Old Trafford on Saturday, there was bonus news a few hours later when Liverpool was stunned by three unanswered Brighton goals.

Beating City 2-1 strengthened the rising belief that Ten Hag is turning the fortunes around for the 20-time English champion.

It might be too soon for the Dutchman to mount a genuine league title challenge this season, but the improvement at United to record nine straight wins across all competitions is evident.

United moves up to third in the table — a point behind City and six off leader Arsenal, which plays Tottenham on Sunday.

"We improved, that's obvious," Ten Hag said. "But there is still a long way to go . . . there are a lot of aspects in our game we have to improve, but we're progressing."

City took the lead in the second half through substitute Jack Grealish, but Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford secured a come-from-behind win for the home team.

United is now 10 points clear of its cross-Pennines rival Liverpool, which suffered a sixth league loss at Brighton, its first there since 1961.

Rashford scored his 16th goal of the season and his eighth in his last seven games, but Ten Hag preferred to praise his physical durability over his finishing after the win against City.

"He knows that in football you have to suffer and sacrifice and have painful moments, especially a player like he is," Ten Hag said. "He is unstoppable, and opponents will go tough against him, but he keeps going and he got rewarded and the team got a reward."

VAR 'a joke'

With just 12 minutes left at Old Trafford, United was trailing to Jack Grealish's 60th minute header in the season's second Manchester derby.

But City's title defense suffered a damaging blow as Portugal midfielder Fernandes equalized in hugely debatable fashion before Rashford bagged United's 82nd minute winner.

Fernandes' goal was the turning point and City boss Pep Guardiola and his players were seething after the flag went up for offside when Rashford ran on to Casemiro's pass.

Rashford did not touch the ball and was deemed by VAR not to have interfered with play, but City were adamant the England forward clearly distracted the defenders and goalkeeper Ederson.

"It is a joke that the first goal can be allowed," City defender Manuel Akanji told BBC Sport.

"He runs for 30 meters, he's chasing the ball. I played him (Rashford) offside. I understand he doesn't touch the ball, but for me it is clearly offside."

Guardiola insisted there was no doubt Rashford's run impacted the reactions of Akanji and Ederson.

"The decision is the referee's and the VAR, but our defenders make a line for Rashford," he said.

"If we know it's Fernandes we don't make the line, we follow the action."

Liverpool 'really bad'

Jurgen Klopp labeled Liverpool's dismal 3-0 defeat at Brighton on Saturday as the worst he has seen during his Anfield reign.

Klopp's troubled side was blown away in the second half by Solly March's double and a late strike from Danny Welbeck.

Liverpool's wretched performance came hot on the heels of a 3-1 loss at Brentford and an FA Cup draw against Wolves, in which they were saved from defeat by a controversial VAR decision.

The Reds are languishing in eighth place in the Premier League with their hopes of a top-four finish fading by the week.

Klopp could not believe what he was seeing as Brighton ran his team ragged in a fashion he has never experienced since taking charge in 2015.

"Bad. Really bad. I can't remember a worse game. It was a very organized team against a not very organized team," Klopp said. "Massively frustrating. We gave the ball away, the spaces were too big and we couldn't push up. That is obviously not good, especially against a super well-drilled side like Brighton. They got more confident and we did the opposite."

Klopp said he had tried to switch Liverpool's tactics in a bid to halt their poor run, but conceded the players did not handle the changes well.

"I had an idea to change the formation which was to try to help the team. That was the idea. But we never did it properly," he said.

"We need to be creative with the options we have. What I saw today from my team was that they were not really convinced by it. That's it."

Two-goal Solly March credited Brighton manager Roberto de Zerbi for his performance in the brilliant result against Liverpool.

"I love playing for Roberto de Zerbi. He's great. He puts his arm around you and tells you you're a good player, and maybe that's what I needed," March said.

At the other end of the Merseyside, on a day when Everton's board of directors was instructed not to attend its home match with Southampton because of a "real and credible threat to their safety and security," the team's hopes of league survival took another blow after a 2-1 loss.

"We have to take responsibility, myself first. We have to do better," Everton manager Frank Lampard said.

Agencies