Man City school United in derby

MANCHESTER, England (AP):

The fourth goal in the Manchester derby showed the gulf between the two rivals isn't only widening in their Premier League positions but in technical quality as well.

With slickness and finesse, Manchester City strung together a 44-pass move before Ilkay Gundogan completed a 3-1 victory for the league leaders over Manchester United yesterday.

City's 12-point advantage over United is the largest after 12 games in the post-1992 Premier League era. And Jose Mourinho's eighth-place team is as close to Cardiff in the relegation zone as it is to defending champions City at the top.

"I think we are not going to be relegated," Mourinho said dryly, when United's position was pointed out. "I think it's not a bad performance at all, it's a performance with mistakes. We paid for the mistakes. All the three goals are our mistakes."

Completely outplayed by English football's dominant force, Mourinho has little prospect of dethroning City as champions. A third attempt at bringing the Premier League trophy back to Old Trafford for the first time since Alex Ferguson retired in a blaze of glory in 2013 already appears over after barely a third of the season.

City's opener came in the 13th minute when Raheem Sterling crossed to Bernardo Silva, who cut the ball back for David Silva to sweep into the net.

The only surprise was City's inability to pile on more goals, with David Silva and Sergio Aguero also netting in a match where United were restricted to one shot on target, 36 percent possession and lacked the verve provided by the injured Paul Pogba.

TOUGH MIDWEEK

City head into the international break with a two-point lead over Liverpool.

"We're scoring a lot of goals, creating a lot of chances, conceding few," City manager Pep Guardiola said, "and that is a rhythm."

Even Watford and Bournemouth now sit above United, with Tottenham seven points in front in the fourth and final Champions League spot. Mourinho blamed the European competition for United's collapse in the blue half of Manchester. While United had a tough midweek trip to Juventus coming from behind to win 2-1 City had the luxury of facing a weak Shakhtar Donetsk and easing to a 6-0 win.

"I'm not going to give that as an excuse," said Mourinho, a three-time Premier League winner with Chelsea. "That's not me."

Only he did.

"Everybody has to agree," Mourinho said. "One thing is to go to Juventus and play against one of the best teams in the world and play for 94 minutes in the limits, not just the physical but the mental.

"It's another thing to beat Shakhtar Donetsk at home and enjoy the game and be relaxed. It's completely different. We arrived in a little bit of different circumstances. I think some of the boys, they felt it a little bit."