Manchester City’s title ambitions were dealt a likely fatal blow in a 1-0 home defeat by Manchester United in which Manuel Pellegrini’s side lost both Joe Hart and Raheem Sterling to injury.

The result, courtesy of 18-year-old striker Marcus Rashford’s 16th-minute strike, left City 15 points behind Leicester in fourth place and took Louis van Gaal’s United to within a point of the Champions League places.

City are four points further back in fourth place and while they, like Arsenal, retain a game in hand on the pace-setters, their title challenge now appears over.

Rashford was United’s match-winner at the Etihad Stadium, the youngster skinning the hapless Martin Demichelis and planting a shot past Hart in the 16th minute to become — at 18 years and 141 days — the youngest scorer in the fixture’s 171-game history.

Sterling hobbled off with an apparent groin injury midway through the first half and Hart was stretchered off with a suspected calf problem early in the second half to complete a miserable day for manager Pellegrini, whose side are also under threat from West Ham United.

But it was a rare day to remember for under-fire United manager Van Gaal, whose team ended a four-game winless run to rekindle their hopes of Champions League qualification.