Preview: Manchester City vs Manchester United

Manchester City host eternal rivals Manchester United in yet another edition of the Manchester Derby at the Etihad on Sunday afternoon.

After the opening three games of the new Premier League campaign, Manchester City find themselves struggling in 13th place with three points across the board. There is still a lot of time to recover from this position but this is a strange situation for City fans, who have not experienced such an underwhelming opening to the season in recent memory.

Man City kicked off their new campaign with a resounding 4-0 victory over Wolves, but succumbed to consecutive defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton. This is Pep Guardiola’s worst start to a league campaign in his career and a turn of the tide is necessary soon if they want to challenge for the Premier League title alongside favourites Liverpool and Arsenal.

City did not fare well against Manchester United last season, even when their rivals had to endure one of their most gruelling seasons ever. Amad Diallo inspired a thrilling 2-1 victory for United at the Etihad last season while City could salvage a point off The Red Devils at Old Trafford.

Despite enormous criticism, Manchester United head into this match above Man City in the league standings. This is somewhat relieving for the United fans who have had very little to enjoy recently; however, everything could change if they fall hard against their near rivals.

Ruben Amorim has already delivered a win against City last season, and the pressure is on him to replicate a similar result this weekend. Manchester United’s 3-2 victory over Burnley in their last match helped them take their tally to four points, as they saw new signing Bryan Mbeumo score and Bruno Fernandes net the decider in added time.

Results from their last five matches across all competitions

Manchester City:

L L W W L

Manchester United:

W L D L W

Team News

Pep Guardiola has a host of injuries to deal with as Omar Marmoush joined Josko Gvardiol, Abdukodir Khusanov, John Stones, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Rico Lewis on the treatment table.

Oscar Bobb is set to partner up front with Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku.

As for United, Ruben Amorim has decided to go with Altay Bayindir in between the sticks, leaving new signing Senne Lammens out on the bench for the derby.

Matheus Cunha, Diogo Dalot and Mason Mount suffered recent injuries and are therefore out of the match. Benjamin Sesko is set to get his full debut.

Predicted XIs

Manchester City (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias, Ake, O’Reilly; Bernardo, Rodri, Reijnders; Bobb, Haaland, Doku.

Manchester United (3-4-3): Bayindir; Yoro, De Ligt, Shaw; Mazraoui, Casemiro, Fernandes, Dorgu; Mbeumo, Sesko, Amad.

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