Manchester City vs Man United preview
It’s the fixture on the calendars that makes one of the biggest cities in the UK stop in its tracks. Manchester United travel to their neighbours Manchester City on March 3 in the latest iteration of the Manchester Derby. Blue vs Red, Manchester is whose?
City are “noisy neighbours” no more. In fact, if they were to be called that now, it would be a compliment since Pep Guardiola’s side is the one that makes all the noise when it comes to going far in competitions. United, on the other hand, make all the wrong kinds of noise, be it about a player’s transgression, declining results, rumours of another manager’s sacking, and much more.
Erik ten Hag engineered a mini-revival at Old Trafford with four consecutive league wins in February but the performances remained below par. It ultimately bit them back as Fulham stopped this revival in its tracks with a shock win at United’s home. United bounced back with a win against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup but concerns about the performances linger.
City, on the other hand, are looking ominous. Erling Haaland loves playing against United and he is coming off a five-goal display against Luton Town where his connection with Kevin de Bruyne clicked. With United’s defence suspect and midfield giving the opposition acres of space, this could even get ugly for Ten Hag.
Manchester City vs Man United predicted lineups
Manchester City lineup
As if the two teams weren’t mismatched already, their injury slates increase that gap further. The Cityzens only have two players out injured, Josko Gvardiol and Jack Grealish, and there’s an expectation that Gvardiol might be fit enough to play a part on Sunday.
City have a clean bill of health otherwise and after a 6-2 win against Luton that effectively became a training session for them later on, they will come into this game fully intending to send a statement to the rest of the league.
City starting XI: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Akanji, Ake; Stones, Rodri; Silva, De Bruyne, Foden; Haaland
Manchester United lineup
As stated above, there is a huge gap in the injury outlook of the two sides. Ten Hag’s worries with injuries have been never-ending this season and that problem has worsened again after easing a bit in February.
Rasmus Hojlund will remain the biggest miss up front, while the likes of Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Mason Mount, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and Anthony Martial are all long-term issues. Tyrell Malacia’s existence is being questioned by United fans while the manager has also ruled out Maguire for this one.
Therefore, United’s team essentially picks itself, not because the players are doing so well, but because there isn’t a strong squad to choose from.
United starting XI: Onana; Amrabat, Varane, Lindelof, Dalot; Casemiro, Mainoo; Garnacho, Fernandes, Antony; Rashford
Manchester City vs Man United predictions
This article’s first subheading ended with “it could get ugly” and that’s perhaps the best way to summarise this game. Ten Hag’s “chaos ball” is making every game a basketball, end-to-end clash. Pep’s City thrive in space and with De Bruyne finding his mojo, he can finish the game with simple passes to Haaland from those half-spaces.
Then again, this United side has an uncanny ability to raise their game when the stakes are high. Similar doom predictions were made when they travelled to Anfield and they somehow merited their draw at Liverpool.
Still, this City side have an aura of inevitability surrounding them and United’s past visits to the Etihad haven’t ended well. Expect this to end the same way and the pressure on Ten Hag to ramp up.
FootTheBall predicts a 4-1 win for Manchester City.
