City thrash United 6-1

Mario Balotelli inspired the worst loss of Alex Ferguson’s career as Manchester City thrashed 10-man Manchester United 6-1 to go five points clear at the top of the Premier League yesterday.

Balotelli – who was forced to flee his home on Saturday following a bizarre late night blaze triggered by fireworks – lit the fuse on City’s title charge in their biggest win at Old Trafford for 85 years.

The 21-year-old fired City ahead in the 22nd minute and added a second on the hour mark before Sergio Aguero netted a third in the 69th minute. A brace of late goals from Edin Dzeko and a David Silva finish completed City’s scoring on a memorable afternoon as United suffered their worst home defeat in Premier League history.

United – who had Jonny Evans sent off two minutes into the second half – scored a late goal through Darren Fletcher.

The defeat was United’s first league loss at Old Trafford since April 2010.

“It’s good but I think it’s not so important that we won 6-1 but that we beat a fantastic team,” City boss Roberto Mancini said.

Balotelli celebrated his opening strike by removing his jersey to expose a t-shirt with the slogan – “Why Always Me? – which irked referee Mark Clattenburg who promptly booked the forward.

Stunned United boss Ferguson said the defeat was the worst of his 54-year career as a player and manager.

“It was our worst ever day,” said Ferguson.

“It’s the worst result in my history, ever. Even as a player I don’t think I ever lost 6-1. The sending off was a killer for us. We kept attacking when we went 4-1 down and we should have just said: ‘We’ve had our day’.”

A good afternoon for City got even better in the late games as Chelsea crashed to a 1-0 defeat against Queens Park Rangers in a pulsating west London derby which saw Andre Villas-Boas’s side finish with nine men.

QPR took the lead from the penalty spot on 10 minutes, Heidar Helgusson slotting home after being bundled over by David Luiz.

Chelsea’s challenge unravelled further soon afterwards when Jose Bosingwa was harshly given his marching orders for hauling down Shaun Wright-Phillips.

A disastrous opening 45 minutes got worse for Chelsea when Didier Drogba was also given a straight red card for a rash two-footed tackle on Adel Taarabt.

Chelsea came back superbly in the second half and carved out a string of chances to score, with Nicolas Anelka coming closest with a late header but Rangers held on for the win.

Summaries

Arsenal 3
Gervinho 27; Van Persie 73, 82;
Stoke City 1
Crouch 34;

HT: 1-1. Att: 59,671.

Blackburn 1
Formica 28;
Tottenham 2
Van der Vaart 15, 53;

HT: 1-1. Att: 22,786.

Fulham 1
Ruiz 67;
Everton 3
Drenthe 3; Saha 90; Rodwell 90+1;

HT: 0-1. Att: 25,646.

Man. United 1
Fletcher 81;
Man. City 6
Balotelli 22, 60; Aguero 69; Dzeko 90, 90+3; Silva 90+1;

HT: 0-1. Att: 75,487.
Red card: Evans (MU) 47.

QPR 1
Helgusson 10 pen;
Chelsea 0

HT: 1-0. Att: 18,050.
Red cards: Bosingwa (C) 33; Drogba (C) 41.

The Championship
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