Michael Carrick was full of praise for Manchester United's defence after yesterday's 1-0 win at Manchester City.

Carrick, who was brilliant in the centre of the park during United's 1-0 win at Eastlands, told MUTV he thought the Reds "thoroughly deserved" the three points.

"I thought we defended really well," he said. "The sending off [in the 68th minute] changed things a little bit and we saw a different side to us from then on.

"It's sometimes difficult when you go down to 10 men because you get stretched a lot. But we stayed compact and in the end we only had to clear one shot off the line.

"You need a bit of luck sometimes [to win games] and today I thought we earned that luck. We were good today and to beat Manchester City away from home is a big result."