London (AFP)

Manchester United stopped City's record-breaking streak in England with 21 consecutive victories by winning the derby 2-0 on Sunday for Matchday 27, as Liverpool continued to fall by losing to Fulham (0-1) at home .

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United wake up and surprise City

We thought the Citizens untouchable and the Red Devils blunt, and yet the latter had a big game to inflict on the leader his first defeat since the end of November.

With 11 points ahead, City has nothing to worry about yet, but it will not be able to beat Bayern's record (23 wins) for the 5 major European leagues.

Beyond the satisfaction of spoiling a little the life of its bulky neighbor, United takes back second place with 54 points in Leicester (53 pts) with its first victory against a "big 6" team this season.

Man United took advantage of a gross foul on Anthony Martial of Gabriel Jesus, returned to defend on the edge of his surface, from the 36th second of play, to take the advantage by Bruno Fernandes (1-0, 2nd).

The polar opposite of the apathetic team which remained on three 0-0 in a row, the men of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were alert, well in place and even daring at times.

The second goal, scored with a cross shot at ground level by the side Luke Shaw, who did not hesitate to follow the counterattack into the opponent's area, is proof of this (2-0, 50 ').

We cannot, however, say that City had a bad game, but they struggled to find players in the box and often had to settle for mid-distance strikes on which Dean Henderson, still in the net, was irreproachable.

One of the turning points of the match was Rodrigo's strike, at the entrance to the area, which would have given the two teams equal if it had not found the corner of the frame (48th).

This setback of no immediate consequence could serve as a welcome reminder for City, still in contention in four competitions that they aim to win all.

For United, this is an important boost for their confidence, four days before the reception of AC Milan in the round of 16 first leg of the Europa League.

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Liverpool is sinking further

Apathetic for 45 minutes, draft subsequently, Liverpool suffered a sixth defeat in a row at Anfield in the league, unprecedented, against Fulham (0-1) who can believe in maintaining.

The race for Europe is seriously complicated for the Reds, 7th with 43 points, who are 2 lengths behind West Ham (6th) and 3 behind Everton (5th), who both have two games less, while Chelsea , 4th to 4 units, has one game less.

Fulham, 18th, is still first relegation, but he has the same number of points as Brighton ahead and one point less than Newcastle, 16th.

Jürgen Klopp had made 7 changes in his starting XI compared to the team beaten (1-0) by Chelsea on Thursday, having to deal with two new injuries, Ozan Kabak and Roberto Firmino, slightly affected.

Far from causing an electroshock, this big sweep seemed to paralyze the Reds even more, dominated at home by a relegation.

"Unacceptable", had lamented at the break the former glory Graeme Souness, at the microphone of Sky Sports.

Worse, just before the break, on a ball that Mohamed Salah was slow to release in front of his surface, Mario Lemina stole it from him to follow up with a cross strike that deceived Alisson (1-0, 45th).

In the second half, with the entry of Sadio Mané, the Reds could have snatched a point with a volley from Diogo Jota, beautifully diverted by Alphonse Areola (48th), or a lobed header from Mané who came to die on the pole (70th) .

But without intensity, without idea, without confidence, the evil seems deep in Liverpool and the eighth-final second leg of the Champions League against Leipzig, in Budapest (2-0 victory in the first leg), Wednesday, seems almost the last chance for the Reds to put some color back in their end of the season.

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