England Premier League
Sunday 3rd March 2024
Kick off at 3:30pm GMT
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Match Preview:
There’s nothing quite like the Manchester derby and even though there is a gap between these sides which has been reversed hugely in the past decade we expect to see a close game and an exciting one too. Manchester City have slipped 4 points behind Liverpool with the Reds victory on Saturday evening so they cannot afford to even draw this game. City have looked outstanding this year with the one blemish being their recent 1-1 draw at home to Chelsea and in their last game which was in the FA Cup they destroyed Luton 6-2. Erling Haaland scored an incredible 5 goals in that game and the team seem to be clicking at the right time. Perhaps the 6 goals were needed against Luton because as champions the criticism never seems to end with the club managing two 1-0 wins in their last two games with victories over Bournemouth and Brentford. Even when they win if they do not score plenty of goals with the team they have the knives can be sharpened.
Manchester United had found the best form of their season with 4 straight wins in a row and one had to wonder if manager Erik ten Hag had finally changed something within the club. However last weekend they lost at home to Fulham 2-1 and that all came crashing down. Of course teams lose games but we can’t believe that United are on the right track losing at home to a mid table team. United sit in 6th place and a European finish looks on the cards but a loss here would mean a six point gap to 5th placed Tottenham. Current form has been good for the club and that includes winning their last 3 games away from home with wins over Wolves, Aston Villa and Luton. The club's last away defeat came in December against Nottingham Forest and they currently have the 4th best away record in the league having won 22 from 39 points.
Team News:
Manchester City: Jack Grealish is out until the end of the month with a groin injury, Josko Gvardiol is only 50/50 to return from a recent ankle injury but could be assessed
Manchester United: Rasmus Hojlund is out with a muscle injury until the end of the month. Harry Maguire is expected to miss out with a knock, Lisandro Martinez is not expected to return for between 3-4 weeks as he continues to recover from a knee injury. Mason Mount, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial are all out long term
Man City vs Man Utd Head to Head:
Last season Manchester City ran out 6-3 winners.
Earlier in the season in the reverse fixture City won 3-0.
Manchester City have won 5 of the past six meetings.
Man City vs Man Utd Prediction:
Clearly Manchester City have taken over United as the best team in Manchester and it has been this way for the past decade they are also consistently getting the better results over them too. There is one problem for City which is to start the very big games in a slow fashion, they have repeated this on so many occasions that it doesn’t seem possible for them to change. Time and again their class in the 2nd half has told but against Chelsea recently it wasn’t enough. Perhaps on another day they would have scored 3 or 4 goals in that 2nd half but there is that tendency for the club to switch off at times. United need to try and take advantage of this but we can’t go against the home side and the quality they boast.
Kevin De Bruyne has been rested for the majority of the past three games and one expects this is Pep Guardiola’s way of saying that there are big games coming up this month including the knockout Champions League games and this starts with this derby. Guadiola needs his team to be on their game and you can’t really fault them since December. United have looked a mixture of poor and very good in that time frame, but one would believe that their overall shortcomings will be found out in this game.
Man City vs Man Utd Betting Tips:
Handicap: Manchester City to beat Manchester United with a -1 goal start at 1.72
Anytime goalscorer: Erling Haaland at 1.50
Anytime goalscorer: Jeremy Doku at 4.00
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