Man City ignore Pep Guardiola's advice to win derby thriller with Kevin De Bruyne masterclass

Manchester City set up their Sunday afternoon thrashing of Manchester United in the least Pep Guardiola way possible.

The 50th Premier League Manchester derby ended 4-1 to City, braces from Kevin de Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez securing the bragging rights and restoring City's six-point lead at the top of the table.

However, contrary to what the score-line suggests it was far from one-way traffic. Well, until a brilliant and hilarious final 20 minutes.

The first half played out like the last 30 minutes of a cup tie, each side landing blows on each-other's goal with neither asserting control in the middle of the pitch. It was chaotic, it was breathless - a neutral's dream. It was probably not what Pep Guardiola wanted to see.

Guardiola's decision to start Jack Grealish on the left wing ahead of Raheem Sterling and to push Bernardo Silva back into a number eight midfield role suggested that City would look to control proceedings through keeping the ball and passing United into surrender.

The inclusion of the dynamic De Bruyne over the more controlled Ilkay Gundogan seemed to contradict this, but with Bernardo, Grealish, Phil Foden and Rodri all on the field, City should have had enough to dictate things.

That is not how things played out though.

De Bruyne put City into an early lead when he coolly finished off a fluid team move, but straight away United began to make their presence felt.

Time and time again Ralf Rangnick's side hit City on the counter, with Anthony Elanga and Jadon Sancho marauding up and down the wings and Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba operating as an unlikely front two.

United's equaliser came through one such counter; Sancho broke down the left, Rodri showed him onto his preferred right foot and the former