Manchester City ceded more ground in the Premier League title race as they went down with a whimper in Saturday's 2-0 defeat to local rivals Manchester United. Erling Haaland failed to lay a glove on the home side's defence, while an inspired Gianluigi Donnarumma kept the scoreline respectable. This was one of City's worst performances of the season, with Pep Guardiola's side left hoping that leaders Arsenal will slip up at Nottingham Forest later in the day.City were on the backfoot from the off, a fact not helped by injuries to John Stones, Josko Gvardiol, and Ruben Dias. Before they can confirm Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi's arrival, the visitors fielded a backline with two 21-year-olds and a 20-year-old, and it showed when Harry Maguire's early header hit the bar from close range before Patrick Dorgu forced a good save out of Donnarumma.City were also indebted to the offside flag on two occasions in the first half when goals from Amad Diallo and Bruno Fernandes were chalked off, but the regularity with which United were getting in behind was cause for alarm for the away fans. After a very sloppy and underwhelming first half, City improved ever so slightly after the break, but had it not been for Donnarumma making a flurry of quickfire saves from Amad and Casemiro, the game could have been over. The Italian came to the rescue again to beat out Mbeumo's effort, but the Cameroon international finally beat the ex-Paris Saint-Germain star with a smart finish on the counter-attack in the 65th minute. From there, City were run ragged, and in the 76th minute, it was 2-0 when Dorgu pickpocketed Rico Lewis to stab home. Amad nearly scored a wondergoal, only for his strike to hit the post and then United had a third goal ruled out for offside from Mason Mount, but it mattered little. City could fall nine points behind Arsenal if the Gunners win at Forest after this capitulation. GOAL rates Man City's players from Old Trafford...Gianluigi Donnarumma (9/10):The 'keeper was in inspired form for City, and without him, it could have been a thrashing.Rico Lewis (4/10):Was a bit sloppy on the ball and didn't offer much at either end of the pitch. Went to sleep for United's second as Dorgu stole in.Abdukodir Khusanov (6/10):Had a shaky start but improved as the contest wore on, with Guardiola singling him out for praise after one interception.Max Alleyne (4/10):The 20-year-old got a rare start but it proved to be a day to forget. He looked overawed by the occasion and was subbed at the break.Nathan Ake (5/10):The elder statesman of City's exceptionally young defence, but didn't provide much security when it was badly needed.Phil Foden (4/10):Quite anonymous in the first half and didn't return for the second period, perhaps due to injury.Rodri (4/10):The Spaniard looked off the pace and was outshone by Casemiro in the centre of the park.Bernardo Silva (5/10):Tried to stamp his authority on the game but was unable to do so.Antoine Semenyo (5/10):The January signing had his most difficult day at the City office as his touch let him down.Jeremy Doku (7/10):Did some good tracking back work and had some moments of quality, but was let down by his team-mates. Erling Haaland (4/10):The prolific striker was outclassed by Martinez, but also had very little to feed off. Made way in the 80th minute, too. Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reportingNico O'Reilly (5/10):Had trouble with the very lively Amad when he came on.Rayan Cherki (5/10):Wasn't able to conjure any magic this time.Tijjani Reijnders (5/10):Added a bit more go forward off the bench.Rayan Ait Nouri (5/10):Did little for his side.Divine Mukasa (N/A):Not really involved.Pep Guardiola (4/10):Fielded a young side but his team cannot have any excuses about how they played. They were outthought and outfought at Old Trafford. United wanted it more whereas City were languid and didn't look like a team challenging for the title. His substitutes did little, too.