MAN UTD welcome Pep Guardiola’s City across Manchester for the first derby of the new season.
United are still hurting after being knocked out of the Champions League in midweek, but have won the last two meetings between the sides.
Follow all the latest below with our live blog…
Paul Pogba and Manchester United were knocked out of the Champions League in the week
What is the team news?
Strikers Edinson Cavani and Antony Martial are doubts for Man Utd after picking up knocks in the 3-1 win at West Ham last weekend.
Boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said before their defeat by RB Leipzig on Tuesday night that neither player’s injury is serious, but was enough to miss the Champions League fixture.
Solskjaer had said: “Edinson and Anthony only minor niggles, but won’t be making the trip [to Leipzig].”
How Man Utd could line-up for this weekend’s derby
LAST TIME OUT
Goals in quick succession seems to be the reoccurring theme for Ole’s men because City also fell victims to it in the 2019/20 campaign.
A clumsy challenge in the box from Bernardo Silva with the assistance of VAR presented an in-form Rashford with the chance to fire United into the lead through a 23rd minute penalty which he expertly dispatched.
The Red Devil’s continued to exert pressure on that vulnerable City back line and it eventually paid off when Anthony Martial squeezed his shot past Ederson to double United’s lead.
This left the Etihad stunned as they had never witnessed their team 2-0 down since Pep took charge in 2016.
In the second half, the hosts began to get a grip on the game forcing United to defend deep in their half. They had appeals waved away and opportunities missed before an Otamendi 85th minute header put City back in contention to at least steal a point from their fierce rivals.
Unfortunately for Pep and his team, it wasn’t enough and to rub salt into the City wounds, that defeat left them 14 points off the pace set by Liverpool which ended up being too big of a gap to close.
A COLD NIGHT IN MANCHESTER
I’m sure this game will warm up the city!
GOOD AFTERNOON
Hello my SunSport family. Hope everyone is doing well and hasn’t over spent with Christmas around the corner.
Do you know what day it is today?
Yes it is Saturday but it’s also another derby day!
All eyes are on the city of Manchester this time as Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City travel to Old Trafford where they’ll be taking on the mighty Manchester United.
The visitors are going into this game off the back of some excellent form.
They swept aside their last Premier League opponents in Fulham with a 2-0 victory, and then followed it up by securing qualification to the round of 16 in the Champions League, with an emphatic 3-0 win against Marseille.
However, the red side of Manchester are currently licking their wounds.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men did manage to complete an impressive comeback in their previous Premier League outing against West Ham thanks to three goals in ten minutes, but they couldn’t replicate this on Tuesday.
A poor midweek performance in the Champions League against RB Leipzig resulted in them being knocked out of the competition where they will now have to challenge for the Europa League instead.
But as we all know, form goes completely out the window when it comes to a derby, so grab your snacks and stay tuned to watch how it all unfolds.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
