With the Premier League resuming this weekend, Manchester City will host Manchester United at Etihad Stadium on Sunday. City who has been struggling since the start of the season, have lost 2 games out of three so far. They were able to grab all three points against Wolverhampton in August and will be hoped against Ruben Amorim’s side on Sunday.
Match Facts
City has won five of their last eight Premier League fixtures against United, drawing one and losing two. However, they failed to win either game last season for the first time since 2020/21.
On the other hand, Manchester United has inflicted an estimate of 25% of Pep Guardiola’s total Premier League home defeats as Manchester City manager, as the Red Devils have won four times out of sixteen at Etihad Stadium. United will be looking for conservative wins at Etihad for the first time since March 2021.
In addition, City has ended up on the winning side in just six out of twenty Premier League Manchester derby, and have lost 10 with 4 draws. Meanwhile, Manchester United recorded their eight Premier League win in 30 games under Rüben Amorim in their 3-2 win over Burnley just before the International break. Half of Amorim’s wins have been against promoted sides and he holds just 16% win ratio over sides not promoted to the division recently. Notwithstanding, United has had 14 shots more than any other side in the Premier League so far, their most shots in the first three games of a season since 2027/18 season which was sixty.
Man Utd captain, Bruno Fernandes has scored in each of United’s last three wins over City in the competition, and has created an overall 12 chances and 8 in open plays, the most chances so far in the Premier League.
Team squads
Reports say both Gianluigi Donnarumma and United’s Senne Lammens may make their debuts in this game. Excluding MD1 games, there has only been two Premier League matches in which both clubs were giving debuts to their goalkeepers.
However, United’s Head Coach, Amorim will likely favour goalkeeper Altay Bayindir against City, “I’m pleased with Lammens, he has potential. Now we are in the moment that the goalkeeper needs to be really strong and have a lot of experience.”
Speaking on the overall team Amorim said, “I think we are a better team (compared to last season when we played against City), if you see any aspects of the data, we are a better team. We are ready to play the game, but we need to show it.”
Both teams will retain their recent lineups however, Manchester United’s Matheus Cunha, Mason Mount and Diogo Dalot will all miss the game through injury while Omar Marmoush, Rayan Cherki and Rayan Ait-Nouri are ruled out for City. Although, John Stones, is a doubt for Sunday as his injury isn’t a big issue.
