Carrick’s attack-minded side swept away the gloom hanging over the club with second-half goals by Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu underlining their dominance of a disappointing City whose title hopes suffered a crushing blow.

Mbeumo, just back from Africa Cup of Nations duty with Cameroon, finished sweetly in the 65th minute and Dorgu got on the end of Matheus Cunha’s cross to put the home fans in dreamland 10 minutes later.

But for a superb display by City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and three disallowed goals, United would have enjoyed a far greater margin of victory, while the visitors barely threatened, as goal machine Erling Haaland hardly got a look-in.

Not only was it a humbling loss for City against their cross-town rivals, but it also put a huge dent in their hopes of reeling in Arsenal in the Premier League title race.

Instead of closing the gap at the top to a manageable three points, they could find themselves nine adrift if Arsenal beat Nottingham Forest later on Saturday.

For United it was the perfect start to Carrick’s tenure, as they moved provisionally into fourth place.