It was 1970 last time City won four successive league Manchester derbies but the class of 2014 repeated the feat at the expense of Louis van Gaal’s United.
OK, the significance of this landmark may not have matched events of 13/05/12 but try telling that to jubilant home supporters at full-time of a narrow, occasionally nervy, but thoroughly deserved win in the 168th Manchester derby.
The visitors were reduced to ten men after 37 minutes when Chris Smalling saw red for a second bookable offence, before the irrepressible Sergio Aguero fired City into the lead on 62 minutes.
A crucial save by Joe Hart from Angel Di Maria in the 76th minute turned out to be every bit as crucial as the only goal on a day where City could, and probably should, have been awarded a hat-trick of spot-kicks.
Manuel Pellegrini brushed off any talk of crisis in a light-hearted pre-match press briefing on Friday and backed his side to reach their “normal” levels of performance after a rare run of three games without a win.
There were some difficult questions for the 61-year old to field, too, following back to back defeats to West Ham and Newcastle, coupled with the second half capitulation in Moscow.
Certainly, given results in recent derbies, City couldn’t have wished for more preferential opponents – the champions have won five and lost only one of their last six clashes with their oldest rivals.
The Chilean opted to make seven changes to the team which lost to Newcastle, bringing in Hart, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta, Fernando, Jesus Navas and Aguero into the 4-4-2 formation so regularly preferred by Pellegrini at the Etihad.
That meant birthday boy Stevan Jovetic, 25, got the nod to partner the red hot Aguero up front, Martin Demichelis retained his starter berth alongside the skipper and the in-form James Milner kept his place on the opposite flank to Navas.
It would have been six changes as Aleksandar Kolarov was named on the initial teamsheet but the Serb hobbled off after the warm-ups, allowing Gael Clichy to start at left-back.
The loss of David Silva in Wednesday’s Capital One Cup fourth round defeat to Newcastle United cast a foreboding shadow over City’s preparations for this eighbourly squabble.
Last season’s 4-1 win over the visitors was achieved without the talismanic Spaniard and it was Samir Nasri who assumed architectural responsibility in that resounding victory, bewitching David Moyes’ backline with his mazy dribbles and boxing of the corner flag in triumph after scoring the fourth.
The Frenchman was fit enough only for the bench after his unexpectedly lengthy return from a groin injury in midweek as the home side sought a moral boosting repeat of that glorious September day in 2013, although this time, it was the visitors arriving into the game in buoyant mood.
Robin van Persie’s last gasp equaliser over Chelsea seven days previously may have left City supporters in a muddled state but for the red side of Manchester, it was taken as a mark in the sand – an announcement that the Louis van Gaal era had truly begun after their inauspicious start.
There was no sense of conservatism in the team selected by Van Gaal for the match, with van Persie, supported by a fluid combination of Wayne Rooney, Adnan Januzaj and Angel Di Maria.
...City v United...
By derby standards, it was a relatively gentle opening to the game, without the usual crunching 50/50s as both sides attempted to work out one another’s angles of approach.
On seven minutes, the game’s first real chance arrived and it was Aguero who wriggled himself a yard of space on the left side of the penalty area and forced De Gea into a decent block at his near post.
On the 20 minute mark, City ramped up the pressure on the United goal and the visitors were once again indebted to their goalkeeper for keeping out, first, Aguero from the other side this time and then Navas, who arrived onto a sublime one-touch move but couldn’t fire either side of De Gea.
A minute later, Fernando led a counter-attack, winning the ball in the centre circle before breaking down the left wing in behind the opposition back four and then delivered a stunning, curling outside of the foot cross for Aguero but the Spanish international stopper was out quickly again to deny Kun for the third time.
That was the pattern of the first half – lengthy periods of midfield skirmishing with the odd burst of activity - usually in the United defensive third, but there was a lack of fluency in the game, due to a rash of “tactical fouls” from the visitors.
Eventually, this rugged approach cost United dear as they lost Chris Smalling for a second bookable offence for a pair of cautions within seven minutes of each other.
The England defender only had himself to blame as he petulantly blocked Hart’s drop kick for his first booking on the half hour mark, before sliding out Milner on the left wing for his second on 37.
City, eager to capitalise, finished the half with all of the momentum behind them and could consider themselves unfortunate not to be awarded at least one penalty kick.
Maraouane Fellaini’s clumsy contact with the back of Aguero’s leg was probably one for the “seen them given” folder but Marcos Rojo’s takedown on Yaya Toure in the last seconds of the first half was less straightforward to explain away.
Perhaps Oliver did not want to reduce United to nine men so early in the contest but TV replays were not favourable for the official’s decision.
Goalless it remained going in at the break but Pellegrini would have fancied his chances of breaking down Van Gaal’s ten men when the match resumed.
Happily, the Chilean’s side picked up where they left off after the restart, immediately laying siege to the United goal.
...City v United: Match report...
The hat-trick of penalty appeals was completed on the hour mark, when Aguero was tripped by Carrick after he’d shown several defenders a clean set of heels but Oliver was clearly in no mood to point to the spot, waving away the protests again, much to the disgust of the majority inside the Etihad.
But you can’t keep a good man down and Kun went out on his own as the Premier League’s top scorer with his 10th league goal of the campaign, converting from Clichy’s cross after Toure had played the Frenchman in behind Valencia.
It was a typically clinical finish from Sergio for his sixth goal in seven derbies, which moved him one ahead of Diego Costa in this season’s top scorer stakes.
Edin Dzeko and Nasri were brought on from the bench as City looked to pile on the misery for a United side enduring its worst-ever start to a Premier League season but Hart had to come to the rescue for City to prevent a Di Maria equaliser with 14 minutes left.
The England no.1, untested for most of the afternoon, did brilliantly to deny the league’s most expensive player on the one occasion he’d managed to escape Clichy’s attentions, flinging himself to his right low down to palm away the goalbound strike.
It was a save every bit as important as the goal scored by Kun 14 minutes earlier as it preserved his clean sheet and earned his team the bragging rights in the derby for the fourth league game in a row.
Plenty of time to check the record books for the last time City won five in a row before the teams reconvene across town in April...
Manchester remains blue.
