MY ACCOUNT
Kevin De Bruyne was pleased with how Manchester City responded to Liverpool’s win against West Ham, after a “different” Manchester United derby challenge on Sunday.
Jurgen Klopp’s side closed the gap on Pep Guardiola’s Premier League leaders to three points with a 1-0 victory over West Ham on Saturday.
But any sense of concern was quickly quashed when De Bruyne opened the scoring in the Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium after just five minutes.
That was his 50th goal in the competition, and he soon added a 51st to his name, albeit after Jadon Sancho had levelled up for Ralf Rangnick’s visitors.
Belgium international De Bruyne, who became the first City player to score a brace in this league fixture since Sergio Aguero in April 2015, then teed up Riyad Mahrez to put the hosts 3-1 up.
With that assist, De Bruyne recorded his 89th goal involvement in just 100 Premier League home games, spread across his time with Chelsea and predominantly City, and the midfielder was satisfied with his side’s 4-1 win. Mahrez had added gloss to the scoreline in the closing stages, firing in off the face of David de Gea.
“I think Man United played differently to other occasions. They tried to press us and did well in the first half,” De Bruyne told Sky Sports.
“We had a few more difficulties to get the ball around, but in the second half we created more opportunities.”
De Bruyne was unable to explain why City have previously struggled at home to United but done well away, though he was delighted with this result against Rangnick’s side.
“I can’t explain why we always win over there [Old Trafford] but have more difficulty at home,” he said. “Today, we played really well and deserved the three points.
“It’s about winning game by game. They [Liverpool] won yesterday, but we responded in the right way. Sometimes we don’t get the result, but we always play the right way and we will fight until the end of the season.”
Mahrez sealed the derby success with the late strike that took him to 101 goal involvements for City across all competitions. It was his 21st goal of the campaign.
But the Algeria international acknowledged he had to stay patient for his opportunities, after a limited first-half display that saw the majority of chances come down City’s left side.
“I think I touched four balls in the first 30 minutes, but in my head, I had to stay focused,” Mahrez told Sky Sports.
“The first half was good and they [Man Utd] tried to play on the counter. Second half, we were more patient and more controlled and made the difference.”
Discussing his goals, Mahrez added: “The first one, you just have to try and hit the target and the second one, I tried to put it high and it hit his face and went in. I will take both of them.”
Guardiola’s side will look to protect their lead at the Premier League summit when they travel to Crystal Palace in their next league outing, though Liverpool do still have a game in hand on City.
