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The Manchester Derby is back, promising its fans and the neutrals another 90 minutes of unconditional drama and extreme emotions on the pitch. The M62 Motorway and the Manchester Ship Canal are set to come to a standstill come Sunday afternoon when the two giants of the city of Manchester clash at Old Trafford.
Clear daylight between the clubs not so long ago, Manchester City (once regarded by their red counterparts as ‘noisy neighbours’) – thanks to their financial boost with their takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008 – have managed to match Manchester United in terms of league standings and trophies won. City have won 2 Premier League titles, an FA Cup and a League Cup under their new owners. Not so noisy anymore.
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As far as this season is concerned, it’s a battle between 1st and 3rd position in the league, and both teams will want to keep their impressive starts to the season going. A win over their city rivals will surely inject a new ounce of confidence into the winning team. But who is the favourite to prevail at the Theatre of Dreams?
Kick-Off and Live Telecast
Channel: StarSports 4, StarSports 4 HD
Live Stream: www.starsports.com
Kick-Off: Sunday, 25th October 2015 – 1930 IST (1500 BST)
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester
Team News
Manchester United
Louis van Gaal’s side have no fresh injury concerns coming into this high-profile clash at Old Trafford. Ashley Young is yet to fully recover from his calf problem while Luke Shaw and Paddy McNair remain sidelined by leg and liver issues respectively.
Manchester City
City’s long injury list isn’t getting any shorter, as the quintet of Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri and Fabian Delph have all been ruled out of this game. Captain Vincent Kompany is yet to return to 100% match fitness and manager Manuel Pellegrini is yet to confirm whether the Belgian will be in the starting line-up on Sunday. But with the derby-day tag looming over this fixture, the Chilean may well be tempted to start the defensively commanding 29-year old alongside Nicklas Otamendi.
Team Form
Manchester United
Man United come into this derby on the back of a 1-1 draw against CSKA Moskva at the Khimki Arena on Wednesday, where Anthony Martial redeemed himself after conceding a first-half penalty by heading in the equaliser to earn the Red Devils a point. As far as league form is concerned, United will be buoyed by their response to their 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Arsenal with a victory over Everton by the same scoreline at Goodison Park.
Ander Herrera’s all-round performance and intensity throughout the game ensured that United were more efficient in all three departments then they were at the Emirates. They were able to string a set of passes together in midfield while at the same time pounce on the opposition’s errors to create goal-scoring opportunities and finish them.
Chris Smalling’s solidity to hold off the aerially threatening Romelu Lukaku reflected his rapid development under Louis van Gaal as one of the League’s top centre-backs.
The Dutchman will hope his players come up with the goods with the same flair as they did against the Merseyside Club. It may be difficult on the back of a long Moscow trip, but a team like Manchester United is expected to play at the highest level twice a week. With derby rivals in front of them, it provides just that much incentive for the red half of Manchester to come out of this game with a positive result.
(Last 5 games) – DWLWW (Most Recent: CSKA Moskva 1-1 Manchester United)
Manchester City
Manchester City will be ecstatic by their 2-1 victory in midweek over Sevilla, where they – like United – had to come from behind to deny the opposition victory. Kevin de Bruyne netted the winner for Manuel Pellegrini’s side in the dying seconds to give City a much-needed victory to keep them alive in their Champions League group.
The win – preceded by consecutive thrashings of Newcastle(6-1) and Bournemouth (5-1) in the league – has given City the much-needed momentum coming into Sunday’s derby-day fixture. With Sergio Aguero and David Silva absent, the onus is on De Bruyne and Wilfried Bony to link up in order to open up a Man United defence which looked very disciplined in the victory over Everton.
With Yaya Toure commanding the attacks from a box-to-box midfield role, the Man United defence will have to be wary of a City side who are lightening quick in their passing and tend to create chances one after the other in very quick succession.
City’s main problems lie at the back though, with captain Vincent Kompany still returning to full fitness. The centre-back duo of Eliaquim Mangala and Nicklas Otamendi have failed to keep a clean sheet in the absence of their skipper. With the quick feet of Anthony Martial and a rejuvenated Ander Herrera in action, the City back-line must improve their coordination to stay on the same page as the United attack.
(Last 5 games) – WWWWL (Most Recent: Man City 2-1 Sevilla)
Predicted Line-Ups
Key Stats
Head-to-Head
- This will be the 170th Manchester Derby. The red half have won this fixture 70 times, whereas their blue counterparts have been victorious on 49 occasions.
- City have won 6 out of the last 8 Premier League derbies, including 3 out of the last 4 at Old Trafford.
- Wayne Rooney has scored 11 goals in this fixture, the highest in Manchester Derby history.
Manchester United
- Man United are looking to remain unbeaten in their opening 5 home games of the season. The last time Manchester United managed this was in the 2010-11 season when they remained unbeaten at Old Trafford.
- Chris Smalling is the only player to start every competitive game for United this season.
- They have won 17 out of 23 home Premier League games under Louis van Gaal (L3, D3). Only City have managed more victories in this period.
Manchester City
- City have scored an unrivalled 24 goals in the league this season, including 11 in their last two.
- Kevin de Bruyne has scored 3 goals and assisted another 3 in his first 5 appearances for City.
- They have had the most shots on target (74) and allowed their opponents the fewest (24) in the league thus far.
- However, Manuel Pellegrini’s side have lost 5 out of their last 10 league games away from the Etihad.
Key Battles
Anthony Martial vs Pablo Zabaleta
With the 19-year old Martial set to start in a left-wing position, the Argentine right-back Pablo Zabaleta is set to face a massive test against the lightening quick feet of the Frenchman, whose performances this season have been the highlight of the Premier League thus far.
The 30-year-old Argentine, who recently returned to the squad from injury, has the responsibility of keeping up with the pace of Martial and prevent him from making those steamrolling approaches into the box.
Kevin de Bruyne vs Morgan Schneiderlin
With 3 goals and 3 assists in 5 appearances so far, the Belgian attacking midfielder has been in sublime form since returning to England from Wolfsburg during the summer transfer window. His vision of the game to find the perfect pass to lay the ball on a plate for the strikers up-front has been the primary factor behind City’s brilliant goal-scoring run.
Defensive-midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin has the task of shielding his defence by tracking his approach play into the box and making those tackles and interceptions to stop the 24-year old from supplying those through-balls to Wilfried Bony inside the penalty area.
Prediction
Manchester United 2-2 Manchester City
With Manchester bragging rights and pole position in the league at stake, one can expect an end-to-end game, with both sides looking to take the attack to the opposition and put them on the backfoot from the very first minute. With the attacking index of both teams pretty strong, a high-scoring draw at Old Trafford on Sunday would be a fair result.
Match Officials
Match Referee: Mark Clattenburg
Assistant Referee 1: Jake Collin
Assistant Referee 2: R West
Fourth Official: Craig Pawson
