5 reasons why City will prevail in the Manchester Derby

Well, it has been one hell of a season for Manchester City so far. They have managed to remain unbeaten so far into the season that there has been a rise in whispers, "Are we going to witness another set of Invincibles?"

Whether they manage to remain unbeaten the entire season is beyond our ability to guess, let us rather shift the focus to the much-awaited Manchester Derby.

There has been a lot of drama leading up to the first derby of the season. A few yellow cards, incidents that drew a red card, a dip in form for certain players and definitely a lot of injuries.

But a closer look at all the drama shows a strange trend; most of the drama has been happening only on one end of the spectrum.

Be it injuries, red cards or a sudden dip in form, it is mostly in the United camp while their neighbours, City have managed to smoothly get past everything that is thrown their way winning 14 of their 15 matches inspite of a few injuries and other incidents.

There are quite a few indicators that make Manchester City the favorite to win the match. Let's look at some of these factors that may play a role.

#1 Strikers doing their jobs perfectly

Striking at the right time..., doesn't really matter who of the two did it... — Aguero & Jesus have been doing the business for City

City's strikers Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus are doing the job and proving that they are more effective than the United strikers.

While Sergio Aguero has scored 9 goals, averaging 95.7 minutes per goal, Gabriel Jesus is close behind with 8 goals averaging 102.3 minutes per goal.

They are way ahead of United’s top scorer Romelu Lukaku who has scored 8 goals averaging 168.73 minutes to each goal and Marcus Rashford who has 3 goals and is averaging 298 minutes to every goal.

Added to this is the fact that Lukaku has seen a dip in form and has scored only one goal in his last eight Premier League games.

The other striker for Manchester United is Zlatan Ibrahimovic who has not started a single Premier League match this season. He has played a negligible 50 minutes this season and has managed only three shots with one on target.

While City has scored 46 goals with a shot accuracy of 54%, United has managed only 35 goals with a shot accuracy of 52%. This shows that the United front-men can learn a thing or two from their counterparts. (Source: Squawka.com and whoscored.com)

#2 The Midfield Battle

Pogba sees red, well that leaves ManU red-faced for the first derby of the season...

I remember a saying that goes, “Battles in football are won in the midfield.” This could well be the prime reason to believe that City will emerge victorious.

With Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick recovering from injuries, the Red Devils are left with limited central midfield options in Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic.

The turning point of the story has been Paul Pogba's red card at the Emirates, which many have declared as 'the moment that has handed the title to City.'

Now Jose Mourinho is left with the out of form Henrik Mkhitaryan and the diminished Juan Mata as creative outlets.

The absence of Pogba will be immediately felt, as the French midfielder had been in great form and assisted two of the three goals against Arsenal on Saturday.

On the other hand, City’s midfielders are thriving and have found the rhythm that is lacking in the United midfield.

Kevin De Bruyne (8), David Silva (8) and Sane (6) top the assist table while the only United player to feature in the top 10 list is Mkhitaryan (5) whose form has slumped in recent times.

Also, a quick look at the possession statistics shows that City with 66.2% is better United with 53.4%.

This clearly shows that City has a balanced and more settled midfield compared to United's which has been a cause of worry.

#3 The Citizens' Dream Run

The winning streak seems to be unstoppable...

Manchester City is having a potentially record-breaking season here. The way they dominate the matches can be seen clearly in numbers.

In the 15 matches played, City has had 70% or more possession on more than 10 occasions while United has only two such occasions. The average possession enjoyed by City this season has been 64%, while United is far behind with 51%.

The Citizens have scored 46 goals in the 15 matches while United have managed 35, which is 11 goals lesser. Even the average pass accuracy has City bettering United's 83% with their 89%.

Therefore, going purely by numbers, City is easily the superior side. The way the Citizens are going about their business this season, it looks improbable that United will get the better of them.

In fact, any team is going to find it tough to get to the end of a match with a smile on their faces. So going by the statistics of this season alone, one can easily predict a win for Manchester City.

#4 The Jose VS Pep Battle

Pep on Jose," Jose wants to win, I want to win. We know each other well from before at Barca."

Jose on Pep," He is very smart. He knows how he has won many of his matches."

Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola have managed rival teams before these Manchester times, but that was at a different time and in a different league.

This was during the 2010-2013 period when Mourinho was in charge at the Bernabeu and at the same time Pep Guardiola was the manager of Barcelona (2008-2012).

The two iconic managers have come face to face a total of 19 times and six of these games have ended in a draw, while in the other 13 games Pep has managed to outwit his opponent a whopping 8 times.

It will be fascinating to see how both managers approach the game but rest assured, it promises to be an interesting tactical battle.

#5 City's Stable Backline

An analysis of the defence for both teams shows that Manchester United's defenders have returned better figures.

This can be seen in United's nine clean sheets. Also, the team has conceded only eight goals so far. On the other hand, City is a step down with only six clean sheets and have conceded ten goals in the 15 games so far.

It looks probable that both the teams will go into the Sunday fixture without at least one the primary central defenders.

While for United, both Phil Jones and Eric Bailly are injured and it is likely that both will miss the derby, City will miss John Stones who is also out due to injury.

When we look beyond the injuries we find another interesting advantage for City. While City has an experienced and stable replacement in Vincent Kompany, United lack a suitable replacement for the two.

The only options that they have are the out of sorts Marcus Rojo or the inexperienced Victor Lindelof to partner Chris Smalling.

But a deeper analysis of the two teams show why contrary to the figures, City;s defence has outperformed its United counterparts.

A quick look at the defensive statistics shows that the Manchester City defence has been better than their Manchester United counterparts in the pass completion, tackles, and interceptions stakes.

The silver lining for United's defence this season has been goalkeeper David De Gea who has made 45 saves this season, second only to Lukasz Fabianski (Swansea) who has made 51 saves.

Edited by Omene Osuya