Manchester City are now only one point behind Liverpool after brushing aside their inner-city rivals Manchester United 3-1.
The game began as many would've anticipated, with City dominating possession of the ball and forcing United to defend deep in their low block for the majority of the opening 10 minutes.
However, the progress that City had built up until the eighth minute was quashed by a sensational strike from 25 yards out by Marcus Rashford against the run of play.
United's game plan to defend deep and counterattack was obvious from the beginning, but Rashford's goal was an exceptional encapsulation of the plan's effectiveness.
United were able to muster some more opportunities on the break in the first half but their occasional counter-attacking moments posed little threat to City's domination of the ball in United's half, essentially situating themselves around Andre Onana's box and forcing the Cameroonian to make numerous high claims in the first half alone, as well as a couple saves.
Rashford's worldie of a finish was, surprisingly, not the only key talking point of the first half. The other shock came towards its conclusion when Erling Haaland missed from point-blank range, sending the ball over an open net.
It was a miss so bemusing that due to the xG worth of the chance (0.93), he was less likely to score a penalty than miss the chance that he had.
Thankfully for Haaland's sake, City were able to turn to one of their own in Phil Foden to level things up in the 56th minute via a stupendous curler into the top left corner of a helpless Onana's goal.
Clearly, that goal was the driving catalyst for City's upturn in emphasis on their attacking play, because the threat just continued to build as the game dragged on, and City were eventually rewarded with Foden sealing his brace.
Haaland made up for his missed chance in the first half by claiming his customary goal in stoppage time to wrap up the game once and for all.
Here are four things we learnt from this Manchester City clinic:
Phil Foden and City's forwards were too threatening for United
Scoring derby day goals has become Foden's bread and butter, and today he provided another masterclass in how to stay threatening throughout a game. What makes Foden special is how multi-faceted he is, because his versatility allows him to adapt to any game state and provide so much threat.
Foden's first half consisted of him creating attacking duos with his teammates like Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker, meaning that a lot of the time he operated as a wide and half-space creator, slipping balls in behind to his runners in the width of the box.
Foden was still able to gain chances for himself, however, exemplified by a chance he had one-on-one with Onana in which the Cameroonian prevailed.
The second half was a continuation of the first but with simply much more threat, much more emphasis on his dribbles and his crossing, and much more willingness to score, exemplified by his brace.
The fluidity of City's attacking play aided Foden in expressing himself, as the forwards regularly rotated positions as the second half droned on, confusing United's defenders and disorientating their perceptions of who to mark and which defensive zones to cover - this confusion is encapsulated by Foden's second goal.
The constant fluctuation of the movement of City's forward players is one of the keys to them being able to sustain attacks for prolonged periods of time in games, and their attacking intelligence left United completely and utterly undone.
Rodri was colossal once again
In a game where the stars were the forward players, it's scarcely surprising that little light has been shed on the immense performance of Rodri yet again. Perhaps it is simply because Foden had a Player of The Match performance, or maybe it is because fans worldwide have simply become used to the elegance that is Rodri playing football every week.
Whatever the reason may be, City are unbeaten in 59 games when Rodri has started, the average equivalent of a season of football, and games like today epitomise why Rodri is arguably City's most important player.
To paraphrase what Gary Neville said on commentary prior to kickoff, "Most of what City try to do goes through him", and he couldn't be more correct as Rodri became City's metronome in the middle of the park since he signed for them in 2019.
Whenever City needed to reset in possession, Rodri was there. Whenever they needed someone to protect zone 14 when United won a second ball, Rodri was there. Whenever they needed someone to make the pitch wider by switching the ball diagonally, Rodri provided the pass.
Perhaps Rodri's best strength today was his reliability in helping circulate possession, as he was able to complete 100 of his 110 passes (90%) whilst essentially being camped in United's half for the majority of the game, meaning that Rodri was the key component in helping City to sustain dominant attacks in the attacking third.
He was also able to cap off his world-class performance with two assists.
United's setup severely limited them
It shouldn't come as a surprise that United set up in a narrow 4-4-2 out of possession against City, as Erik ten Hag was rightly afraid of what City might've been able to accomplish had United been a man short in midfield.
However, United's low block was significantly deep and forced the players into a setup which involved a lot of running up and down the pitch as they had to rely on counter-attacking to find chances.
United's diminished attacking threat as a result of the setup meant that they were resigned to three shots in the whole game and only one failed pass into City's box in the second half.
The setup didn't help the forwards, but Rashford, Scott Mctominay and Alejandro Garnacho were quite poor in their holding of the ball and their link play, failing to make the most of the minimal chances that they did fashion in the final third.
Onana and Raphael Varane can hold their heads high
For a United performance that warranted few honourable mentions, it would be remiss to not give Onana and Varane their due praise for trying their hardest to assuage a trying situation for United defensively.
Onana was the main reason why United were able to make it half-time without conceding as he displayed the qualities that made United sign him: Bravery in his run-outs, assertiveness in his high and low claiming, and ambitious and threatening distribution with his feet.
Onana ultimately did all that he feasibly could but was hardly at fault for the three fantastic goals he conceded.
Varane was another man in United's defence who showed authority and experience in his box defending. In the game, he made nine clearances, blocked two shots and won all his aerial duels.
City worked United's defensive line to the bone and it showed in players like Victor Lindelof and Jonny Evans who were visibly knackered but Varane once again stood out and proved he's United's best pure defender.