Manchester United vs Manchester City Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Oct 14, 2015 @ 02:04 pm

The standout game in the Premier League weekend is the 170^th Manchester derby that commences as Louis Van Gaal prepares his side against the ‘noisy neighbours’ in Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City. The psychological blows have already been handed out in the media with Van Gaal stating City have an advantage.

The advantage that the Manchester United manager is pointing out is the Champions League commitments this week. United make the inconvenient trip to Russia whilst City have a home game against Sevilla and will have longer to recover ahead of the derby this Sunday. It is a crucial game for both sides having both already lost in their respective groups so Van Gaal can’t afford to rest senior players ahead of the game against CSKA Moscow. The derby didn’t have much meaning last year given the struggles of United in Van Gaal’s debut campaign but the Dutchman will be fully motivating his side with both now worthy Premier League challengers. Van Gaal got it completely wrong in their 3-0 defeat to Arsenal with the lack of youth and energy but against Everton he was tactically spot on with bringing Anthony Martial to the left to counter attack the attacking threat of Seamus Coleman.

Manchester City didn’t waste any time dwelling over the injuries to David Silva and Sergio Aguero in the international break as they put Bournemouth to the sword in a 5-1 victory. A hat-trick from Raheem Sterling was his best performance since signing for £49million in the summer from Liverpool and Pellegrini will need Sterling to step up to the mark with Aguero injured. Wilfried Bony capitalized on a rare start with a brace and the Ivorian centre forward will spearhead the attack in the derby. City are the current top goal scorers in the Premier League after scoring 11 in the past 2 games. Pellegrini will be concerned at the defending at times with City last keeping a clean sheet back on 12 September where they had 5 clean sheets in a row.

Wayne Rooney turns 30 the day before the Manchester derby and he’s scored more goals (11) in the Manchester derbies than any other player. The last 10 Manchester derbies have also averaged just over 4 goals a game whilst Manchester City will be looking for their 50^th competitive win in a Manchester derby. United’s home form under Louis Van Gaal is impressive having won 17 of the 23 league home games under him. 

David Silva is top of City’s assist charts with 6 whilst Sergio Aguero is top of City’s goal charts also with 6 but both will miss Sunday’s game. Left back is also an area for concern for City as Gael Clichy is injured and Aleksandr Kolarov has only just returned to full fitness. Van Gaal dropped Daley Blind and Memphis Depay for the win at Everton and the Dutch duo could be benched again in United’s biggest game of the season.

Manchester United

Stats: W-6 L-2 D-1

Recent Form – WWWLW

Manchester City

Stats: W-7 L-2 D-0

Recent Form - WLWWW

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Manchester United (4-2-3-1) – De Gea, Darmian, Jones, Smalling, Rojo, Schneiderlin, Carrick, Mata, Herrera, Rooney, Martial. 

Manchester City (4-2-3-1) – Hart, Sagna, Mangala, Kompany, Kolarov, Fernandinho, Toure, De Bruyne, Jesus Navas, Sterling, Bony.

Injury List/Suspended Players

Manchester United – Shaw (inj), Wilson (inj), Young (inj).

Manchester City – Aguero (inj), Silva (inj), Clichy (inj), Delph (inj)

Manchester United v Man City Head to Head

League Positions