London: Manchester United's stuttering start to the defence of the Premier League title became a full-blown slump on Sunday when they were beaten 1-0 by Manchester City.
The win, courtesy of Geovanni's 31st minute shot, left Sven-Goran Eriksson's City top of the league with a maximum nine points and looking down on their rivals who languish just above the bottom three with two points.
It is United's worst start to a Premier League season since 1992 when they managed only one point from their opening three matches.
It is also the worst start by any defending champions.
The only good news for United was that all their chief title rivals dropped points.
Liverpool and Chelsea drew 1-1 at Anfield, Frank Lampard's harshly-awarded penalty cancelling out Fernando Torres' first goal for Liverpool, while Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers.
"We really should have sewn the game up even before they'd crossed the halfway line. We've only got ourselves to blame - let's make no mistake about that," United manager Alex Ferguson told the club's website (www.manutd.com).
An untidy Manchester derby at Eastlands was settled after 31 minutes by Geovanni, one of the numerous foreign signings made by former England boss Eriksson since taking charge last month.
The Brazilian midfielder delivered a low swerving shot that skimmed off the shin of United defender Nemanja Vidic before nestling inside the post.
It was one of the few City attacks in a match dominated by a United side missing the injured Wayne Rooney and suspended Cristiano Ronaldo but including Owen Hargreaves in midfield for the first time since signing from Bayern Munich.
United wasted numerous chances with Nani failing to beat City keeper Kasper Schmeichel, son of United great Peter, in the opening minutes.
Patrice Evra and Carlos Tevez squandered opportunities and Vidic also headed against the crossbar for the champions.
Dream start
Eriksson, enjoying a dream start to his return to English football, praised his defenders for a resolute performance.
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"Today we defended very well, our back line and goalkeeper were fantastic," the Swede told the BBC.
"I'm very happy, nine points and three clean sheets. We'll enjoy the night but the season is very long ... today we had a bit of luck."
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez described the decision of referee Rob Styles to award Chelsea a penalty as "unbelievable" after watching his side pegged back.
Torres showed why Benitez splashed out a club record 36 million euros ($48.42 million) to sign him from Atletico Madrid after 16 minutes when he glided on to a Steven Gerrard pass, outfoxed Tal Ben-Haim and guided a precise shot across Petr Cech.
Like so many clashes between the two sides it was not memorable, although not without controversy.
Just past the hour Shaun Wright-Phillips cut a ball back behind Malouda and when the Frenchman stumbled into Steve Finnan, Styles awarded a penalty which Lampard slotted home.
Dirk Kuyt headed just over for Liverpool late on while Ryan Babel shot into the side-netting.
There was confusion when Styles appeared to show a yellow card to Chelsea midfield man Michael Essien having already booked him in the first half, but the Ghanian stayed on.
"It was unbelievable decision....how can (Styles) change a game like this," Benitez told Sky Sports.
"You can't expect decisions like this."
Robin Van Persie gave Arsenal an early lead at Blackburn but Rovers, who ended the game with 10 men after Ryan Nelsen was sent off, got a point when Jens Lehmann fumbled David Dunn's 25-metre shot into his net.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger later accused Rovers of "violent" tactics. Arsenal, Blackburn and Liverpool all have four points, while Chelsea are second behind Manchester City with seven.
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