Manchester City 1 Manchester Utd 0:At this stage of the season it is never wise to take too much credence from the Premier League table but forgive Manchester City's supporters if they are unable to resist the temptation. Their team is squatted at the summit after yesterday's derby and when there is the added joy of seeing Manchester United grubbing around for points among the hoi polloi, so what if the new campaign is barely one week old?

"If you could have points for possession of the ball and for shots, on and off target, we would have lost," Sven-Goran Eriksson reflected at the end of a match from which not even the most impassioned City supporter could be strapped to a polygraph and successfully recall a five-minute period when the team in blue exuded any form of superiority. "But we scored a goal and they didn't."

Even Eriksson wanted to express sympathy with City's opponents as he tried to make sense of a game that could be replayed a thousand and one times and will never cease to amaze.

"It will take a long time to explain," Alex Ferguson acknowledged, and there was crushing disappointment in those rheumy eyes. "When you consider the number of chances we have had, plus our possession in the final third of the pitch, we really should have made it count. We've just been wasteful in front of goal, and that's the nuts and bolts of it. I don't think we can even say City were lucky."

Ferguson may change his mind when he considers Kasper Schmeichel's jitters in the home goal and, again, when he analyses the decisive deflection Geovanni's 20-yard drive took off Nemanja Vidic's instep for the winning goal, in precisely the area of the pitch that Owen Hargreaves, making his debut, was supposed to be protecting.

United attacked with pace and purpose, they stretched their opponents, forced corner after corner, rattled the woodwork and laid siege to Schmeichel's goal. In many ways, it was the most one-sided derby here for years.

United have taken only two points from their first three games and are languishing in 16th position on the Premier League table. "We've got ourselves in an uphill fight now," said Ferguson. "Ten years ago we could have handled that because we have always been good in the second half of the season, and now we are going to have to be. The most important thing is to get that first win under our belts. Our next home match against Tottenham is a very important one."

Only the seriously deluded could believe the damage is irreparable but this is still a deeply worrying time for Ferguson. His complaints about missed chances have been a recurring theme in their opening programme and, having spent so much money on bringing in English football's version of the galacticos, it is peculiar, to say the least, it is such an issue.

His dismay was exacerbated because City were ineffectual when going forward while Schmeichel was, at best, vulnerable and, at worst, a danger to his own team. The young Dane may have a famous surname but he was frequently stranded in his six-yard area, particularly when dealing with Ryan Giggs's corners. His promotion from fourth to first choice has clearly come too soon.

How did he get away with it? Largely because United were missing Wayne Rooney, Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer through injury and Carlos Tevez was too eager to impress, snatching at two very presentable chances. Patrice Evra and Nani missed even easier opportunities but it is difficult to begrudge City. What they lacked in quality, Eriksson's side made up for in endeavour, from Dietmar Hamann and Michael Johnson in midfield to Richard Dunne and Micah Richards in defence.

Richards produced a colossal performance, making at least half a dozen telling interceptions or saving tackles, and he surely deserves a starting place in England's friendly against Germany on Wednesday.

The only downside for City was the news Valeri Bojinov might face a lengthy lay-off after his early departure on a stretcher. That apart, however, this was Eriksson's "perfect day" and City's supporters will not care whether the win was lucky.

While one team from Manchester can boast an immaculate record of achievement, the other is still looking for its first victory of the season, with only one goal in three games and still to face a side with realistic aspirations of finishing in the top six. Eriksson is enjoying his honeymoon, but who could have foreseen it would coincide with United enduring their worst start to a season for 15 years?