Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team lacks credibility at Old Trafford. On the other hand, Josep Guardiola’s players have recently improved their productivity.
In the English Premier League and not only, but the most important story of the weekend is also the Mancunian derby in which United will host City. Unusually, before this match of the 12th round, these teams are not even in the TOP 4 of the championship, but the leaders of the table: Liverpool and Tottenham (24-24 points) are not far behind (5 and 6 points, respectively), and at the same time, Manchester clubs have one match in reserve. So the main battles in the English Premier League are yet to come.
Manchester United
After losing an important game against Leipzig in the Champions League (2: 3), Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team is not in the best mood for the derby. One of the richest and most ambitious clubs in the world failed to reach the playoffs of the tournament and will now switch to the Europa League.
The Red Devils had the opposite situation in the English Championship, where they won the last four games in a row and three of them away. Now for United, the chance of rehabilitation for failure in the Champions League is the next derby.
At this time Manchester United can be said to have no staffing problems. In the infirmary are Sergio Romero and Phil Jones, who have not played this season. Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani have minor problems, but it will be clear on the day of the match whether this will prevent them from playing against City.
Manchester City
City even won their group in the Champions League. But things in the Premier League have not been perfect until recently. Pep’s team had problems where they least expected it. If in the past, defending City was considered a weak spot, now everything is in order here, but instead, the strikers can no longer stand as before, and with this figure, City is the 10th team in the Premier League today.
City have clearly improved the situation in the last two rounds – 7 goals scored and none conceded. The question is whether this series will continue with United as well. The low performance of the team used to be explained by personnel problems, but now there is practically no shortage in City. Only Eric Garcia is injured, and there are small doubts about Ilkay Gundogan.
To the delight of the team’s fans, Sergio Aguero is in good shape, having even beaten Marseille in the league. But it is still difficult to say whether the Argentine is 100% ready for a match of this level.