Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola admits he wasn't convinced of victory against Manchester United until Ilkay Gundogan's introduction.

The Blues triumphed 3-1 over neighbours United, thanks to goals from David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Gundogan – with the German emerging from the bench to seal the points, finishing off a sensational team move – after Anthony Martial had pulled one back for the Reds from the penalty spot.

“In the first half, we were not so good," he admitted. “We played like: 'I don't want to lose the ball' but with no intention to do something.

“We felt a bit of pressure – they wanted to do well in a Derby. That's normal.

“We were stable and scored the first goal, which was so good.

“We changed a little bit the way we should press and the goal from Sergio helped us a lot.

“After that, we conceded and it is inevitable to think about last season – but we didn't concede another chance and we defended so well.

“It is most satisfying that at 2-1, we reacted well. Step by step, we regained our game again and at 3-1, it was easy.

“Especially in the second half (the starts have been so strong). We spoke at half-time and said that we could play better then we did in the first half. We were much better.

“We didn't find our normal rhythm but it is difficult – they defend so deep and they are so aggressive. It is not easy to find spaces against them and they have fast players, who want to attack our back four.

“Gundo [came on] and Raheem played like a striker so we had extra passes and in the last 30 minutes, we played a very good game."