Manchester City could thank the referee, Chris Kavanagh, for his unwitting help in Sergio Agüero’s opener in a match in which they struggled yet again.
It was a moment of farce that turned the contest, upset Sheffield United, who lost for the first time away this season, and which, in these VAR-troubled times, could not be reviewed as the rules do not allow for an official inadvertently being in the way in the build-up to a goal.