Pellegrini 5-2 for immediate exit

By Dan Childs 8:51PM 12 APR 2015

LOUIS VAN GAAL registered his most significant victory as Manchester United manager on Sunday as his side came from behind to defeat Manchester City 4-2 at Old Trafford.

City went into the game searching for a fifth successive derby victory but were swept aside by first-half goals from Ashley Young and Marouane Fellaini and second-half contributions from Juan Mata and Chris Smalling.

There was strong pre-match support for City, who started 9-5 shots (the same price as United) and their odds shrank to an in-running low of 1-2 after Sergio Aguero registered an eighth minute tap-in.

United drifted to an in-running high of 11-2 but never looked back after Young levelled the scores in the 14th minute.

Aguero bagged his second late on – taking him level with Diego Costa and Harry Kane on 19 goals in the race for the Golden Boot.

The Argentinian striker is the 10-11 favourite to finish as the division’s top marksman but it was a dismal day for City, who have lost six of their last eight games in all competitions and may be dragged into a scrap for fourth place with tricky matches away to Tottenham and at home to Southampton still to come.

Failure to reach the Champions League would be seen as a disaster for manager Manuel Pellegrini, who is 1-3 with Coral to be in the City hotseat on the last day of the season and 2-1 to have departed.

He is 5-6 with Betfair to be the next Premier League manager out of a job and 5-2 with Betway to have left before City’s next game against West Ham on Sunday.

Paddy Power make Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti the 6-5 favourite to succeed him.

United are 25-1 with Hills to win the title, but Chelsea are red-hot 1-33 favourites after an 88th-minute goal from Cesc Fabregas gave them a scrappy 1-0 victory over QPR at Loftus Road.

QPR had looked on course for a precious point in their battle for survival but Fabregas’s clinical finish sealed a tenth away league victory for Chelsea which stretched their lead over second-placed Arsenal to seven points.

QPR have been cut to 1-5 for a bottom-three finish.