City held by United in derby stalemate, Reds rare loss delays title march as Saints relegated

Manchester City’s hopes of Champions League qualification remain in the balance after a dismal derby at Manchester United ended 0-0 on Sunday.

United had the better of a game limited in chances as they missed out on a first league double over City since 2019/20.

A point leaves City still in fifth in the Premier League, which should be enough to reach next season’s Champions League.

However, Pep Guardiola’s men are just two points above Newcastle, who have two games in hand on City.

A point edges United up to 13th.

A contest devoid of quality, intensity or fight summed up a dreadful season for both sides of the Manchester divide.

After a record four consecutive league titles, City’s form has fallen off a cliff to leave them at risk of not making the top four for the first time since 2009/10.

United’s only chance of Champions League qualification is by winning the Europa League as they are set for their worst ever Premier League finish.

The Red Devils have shown flashes of improvement this week but also failed to score in their 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday to underline their problem in front of goal.

Kevin De Bruyne started just days after announcing this will be his final season at City.

But the Belgian’s performance was the latest example that he is now a shadow of the figure Guardiola said will be remembered as one of the Premier League’s all-time greats.

City had the majority of the ball, but United were the more threatening side on the counter-attack in a pedestrian first half.

Alejandro Garnacho, Patrick Dorgu and Manuel Ugarte all failed to make the most of half-chances to get a strike off inside the City box.

Phil Foden had the game’s best chance just seconds after half-time, but fluffed his lines with only Andre Onana to beat.

The spectacle did marginally improve after the break as Omar Marmoush’s powerful effort from a corner stung the palms of Onana.

Joshua Zirkzee and Mason Mount’s introduction off the bench added more thrust to the United attack in the final 20 minutes.

Both had a chance to win it when Zirkzee’s shot was clawed away by Ederson and Rico Lewis did well to get in the way of Mount’s follow-up effort.

There were smiles during a warm embrace between Guardiola and Ruben Amorim at full-time but those pleasantries disguised the fact that neither man can be happy with the state of their sides after a disappointing campaign.

Meanwhile, Liverpool slumped to just their second EPL defeat this season as Fulham clinched a shock 3-2 win over the runaway leaders, while Southampton were relegated in record-setting time after a 3-1 loss at Tottenham.

Southampton were relegated from the EPL in record-setting time after a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham ended their brief stay in the top-flight.

Brennan Johnson struck twice in the first half and Mateus Fernandes’s late reply was too late to stop bottom of the table Southampton crashing back to the Championship.

Southampton are the first Premier League team to be relegated with seven matches still to play.

Arsenal’s 1-1 draw at Everton on Saturday left Liverpool needing just 11 points to secure a record-equalling 20th English top-flight title.

Arne Slot’s men were unbeaten in 26 league games and looked set to take another step towards the title when Alexis Mac Allister’s stunning strike opened the scoring.

But poor defending allowed Ryan Sessegnon, Alex Iwobi and Rodrigo Muniz to turn the game around for Fulham. The Reds appear to be running out of steam after challenging in four competitions for most of Slot’s largely impressive first season since replacing Jurgen Klopp.

But Liverpool are still almost certain to win their first title since 2020 with only seven games remaining for second-placed Arsenal to catch them.

After a Champions League exit to Paris Saint-Germain and League Cup final defeat to Newcastle, Liverpool edged Everton 1-0 in a feisty Merseyside derby on Wednesday to get back to winning ways.

Agence France-Presse