Manchester City 1-0 Manchester United: Photos

Manchester City striker Aguero shouts with delight as he runs off to celebrate his 10th Premier League goal of the season

And make no mistake the red half fancied its chances on Sunday. They had read great significance into two late equalising goals in matches with West Bromwich Albion and Chelsea. They thought a corner had been turned.

Perhaps, though, if there is a reason City still have the traces of an inferiority complex it could be found in the last 15 minutes. A goal to the good against ten men and a United defence that could not have better epitomised the term makeshift had they literally been held together with string, City contrived to end the game clinging on for grim life. 

When five minutes of additional time were signalled there was a groan of dread and their fans were howling for referee Michael Oliver to blow the final whistle. It was a strange conclusion, allowing United to leave with a misplaced sense of achievement. In reality, they had been a shambles at the back, had Chris Smalling sent off for two certifiable offences and could have conceded three penalties. 

Against this, to end with a back four of Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick, Paddy McNair and Luke Shaw, and only lose 1-0 to a team that scored 102 goals last season, says something for their resilience. David De Gea, in particular, was outstanding in goal and it was always going to take something very special to beat him. And that is what happened.

There were 63 minutes gone when Sergio Aguero scored what proved to be the winner. Nerves were beginning to creep in. Manchester United had been down to ten men from the 39th minute when Oliver deemed Smalling too stupid to continue and Marcos Rojo had been carried off on a stretcher after putting his shoulder out in a tackle. 

They were there for the taking and a great truly great team would have destroyed them. Yet City did not take advantage. De Gea was wonderful, but on too many occasions City seemed determined to achieve perfection, rather than just a goal, although successfully marrying the twin ambitions won the game.

A lightning sequence of passes and movement separated these teams. Yaya Toure fed a low, well-struck pass out to Gael Clichy, the left-back – only playing because Aleksandar Kolarov got injured in the warm-up – stretching United’s defence until the seams pinged. 

Clichy hit a lovely cut-back cross and Aguero did the rest. It was a stupendous, first time, finish – the ball past De Gea almost before he had time to react. A magnificent moment – a goal that was almost classically Aguero. 

United defender Chris Smalling (right) blocks the kick of Joe Hart (left) to pick up his first of his two bookings in the game

Smalling earns a second yellow card just seven minutes after his first with a wild lunge on City midfielder James Milner

Referee Michael Oliver (left) shows Smalling a red card as the home fans at the Etihad celebrate the decision in the 38th minute