Erling Haaland and Phil Foden each scored a hat-trick as Manchester City thrashed Manchester United 6-3 on derby day, putting an end to any discussion of their rivals’ resurgence.
It was the first hat-trick of Foden’s professional career, but his amazing teammate Haaland is used to them by this point. The Norwegian made it a treble of trebles on Sunday with yet another magnificent display of forward play after hitting three in each of his previous two Premier League games at the Etihad.
The Premier League’s top scorer and top assist-maker produced some breath-taking movements to help make it 4-0 at halftime. His first two goals, sandwiched between Foden’s first-half goals, came courtesy of another great combination play between the striker and De Bruyne.
He has now scored 14 Premier League goals in only eight games thanks to his conversion of Sergio Gomez’s cross in the second half. The stats from the summer signing are really staggering. With eight assists, De Bruyne is on track to set a record in that area as well.
United will be thinking back on yet another terrible first half as City is celebrating. At halftime, things could have been worse for the visitors since Ilkay Gundogan also hit the post from a free-kick.
It served as a sobering wake-up call for those United supporters who may have been complacent following their four-game winning streak since they last trailed 4-0 after 45 minutes against Brentford.
The outcome puts City back within one point of Premier League leaders Arsenal and makes them once again appear to be important players in the battle for that title. United are still in sixth place and far behind.