Manchester City opened up a 11-point lead at the top of the Premier League table, as a second-half strike from Nicolás Otamendi secured a narrow 2-1 win over neighbours and title rivals Manchester United.

It was all City throughout the opening minutes of the first period with Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus going close to no avail, David Silva rewarded their persistence two minutes from the break with the opening goal before Marcus Rashford levelled things up in extra-time.

City managed to put themselves back infront in the 54th minute through Otamendi, it then turned into a tale of goalkeepers with David De Gea doing well from Silva with Ederson making sure of City's record-breaking Premier League record with his world-class double save from Romelu Lukaku and Juan Mata.

Asserting dominance early on

The clash at Old Trafford was being billed by many as a potential title decider considering the lead City had on The Red Devils, and they came out at the Theatre of Dreams looking like they wanted to extend it even further.

The first real chance emerged in the 16th minute as Sterling did well to link with Jesus as he received the ball back inside the United area, he had all the space to shoot but the in-form youngster's effort was weak as it was straight into the arms of De Gea.

​The Brazilian had his own opportunity seconds later as he did well to glide down the right-hand side, he decided to go himself from 15 yards but De Gea continued his form from last Saturday's 3-1 win over Arsenal as he quickly gobbled up the opportunity.

​Their next real chance didn't arise until the 42nd minute as Fabian Delph pinged a ball into the back post which was misread by Ashley Young, it fell into the feet of Leroy Sané but his effort was turned over by De Gea.

Rewarded for their assertiveness

Following their dominance throughout the first period it seemed more of a case of when not if when City would score, and two minutes from the break they managed to draw first blood from José Mourinho's men.

Kevin De Bruyne's cross was poorly cleared from Lukaku as he headed it back towards his own goal, it dropped into the feet of the returning Silva who prodded home his second goal in a week.

Levelling it up at the death

It would be difficult to say from a United perspective that City didn't deserve their lead following their persistence throughout the half, but they found themselves back in the dying seconds as they capitalised on poor defending from Pep Guardiola's men.

It was poor initially from Otamendi as he failed to show urgency in the situation but looked to be saved by Delph, however the makeshift full-back missed the bounce as it fell into Rashford who coolly finished beyond Ederson.

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Another scrappy goal seals it

It was clear to see that Guardiola was disappointed in the manner that his side managed to come into the break on level terms, as his side came flying out for the second period looking to regain their lead and were rewarded as Otamendi continued his run of goals.

The blame once again landed on Lukaku as the striker shanked Silva's cross straight into skipper Chris Smalling, the deflection fell perfectly for Otamendi to scruffily swipe home from six yards to match Silva's two goals in a week.

Battle of the goalkeepers

Guardiola's changes following regaining the lead showed that he was very keen to hold onto the lead that he had, but the latter stages belonged to the goalkeepers as both De Gea and Ederson produced equally world-class saves to continue their respectively excellent starts to the season.

De Gea was up first in the 71st minute as Silva relieved the ball from De Bruyne before deciding to go down the middle, the Spaniard fizzes a low shot from 20 yards which looked destined for the bottom corner but De Gea was down quickly to flick it around the post.

Ederson arguably went one better as he saved the three points for City five minutes from time, Anthony Martial fizzed a ball into the middle which found Lukaku whose effort was straight into the face of the Brazilian who did excellently to shake that off push away Mata's follow-up.

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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.