SOCCER:It is a wonderful thing to see a fine old soccer club regain its self-respect, and the buzz around Eastlands yesterday could hardly be missed. From the kit-men to the ball-boys, everyone in blue seemed to have a new spring in his step. And that was before the kick-off. When the 137th Manchester derby was over, and City had extended their perfect start to the season with a 1-0 win, the place boiled with enthusiasm.

"Three games, three wins and three clean sheets," said Sven-Goran Eriksson, his eyes positively twinkling as he gazed down on those who had once dismissed him as a charlatan. Maybe he does know a thing or two about this game, after all.

In his imperturbably polite way, Eriksson shoved all Alex Ferguson's half-humorous taunts back down his throat.

"He's another City manager," Ferguson had said on the eve of the match.

Not now he isn't. This result was a repetition of the defeat Ferguson suffered on the only other occasion they have met as club managers, when Lazio beat Manchester United 1-0 in the 1999 European Super Cup in Monaco. So this makes it two-nil. And now perhaps the Scot will have to take the Swede seriously, in public as well as in private.

"We defended extremely well today," Eriksson said when asked about the stirringly athletic performance of Micah Richards. "It's important to remember that he is only 19 years old, and to be so strong and so quick - I can't remember that with anyone. It's a very rare combination. He wins everything in the air, he fights with the centre forward, and if he makes a mistake he can use his pace to repair it."

Ferguson admitted United are already facing an uphill battle to retain their Premier League. Despite dominating possession and enjoying the vast majority of chances, for the second time in three outings this season, United failed to find the net. Instead, Geovanni's first-half effort proved decisive.

"We have to get a win under our belts," said the Scot. "We have Tottenham on Sunday. That has become a very important game for us."

Two points from three games represents United's worst start since 1992, although they did finish that campaign as champions.

Meanwhile, at Anfield, the simmering feud between Chelsea and Liverpool erupted on the pitch with nine bookings, and off it with more controversy between Jose Mourinho and Rafael Benitez.

Confronted with questioning over his team's alleged gamesmanship and constant questioning of referee Rob Styles's decisions during a 1-1 draw at Anfield, Chelsea manager Mourinho claimed: "We are a naive and pure team. I have a naive team, they are naive because we do not have divers, we do not have violent people we do not have nasty tackles. We do not have people diving into swimming pools, Chelsea is a naive team. It is a pure team, that is my opinion."

On hearing the Portuguese coach's version of affairs, Liverpool chief Benitez could not stop himself hitting back. "I will not name people, but you can check their team and see how many times they do things that he says that they do not do. I don't want to give names, but I remember a lot of situations in the last three years, and today you could see the players talking all the time at the referee."

Benitez was furious with the penalty decision that gave Frank Lampard an equaliser after Florent Malouda had gone down under a challenge from Steve Finnan. "What penalty? It was the invisible penalty. There were 45,000 people who could see it and know it wasn't, Jose says he could not see it."

Finally, Martin Jol fears Tottenham are about to sack him and wants clarity from chairman Daniel Levy about his future. The manager watched his team beat Derby County 4-0 at White Hart Lane on Saturday to win their first points, but has been alarmed to hear "whispers" his days are numbered.

Jol was also distressed to learn that Tottenham directors had met Juande Ramos, the Sevilla manager, in Spain on Friday.