Manchester City v Manchester United Match Result
Manchester City have a 60% chance of landing a victory in the derby on Sunday. That’s according to the Premier League betting sites and odds of 1.66 will be included in several football accumulators. The Cityzens had won four titles on the spin before last season when they ended up trailing champions Liverpool by a significant margin.
Perhaps City are still in a state of flux. Kevin de Bruyne, Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish have all moved on along with goalkeeper Ederson. Pep Guardiola is now trying to build a new team although he’s recruited the experienced Gianluigi Donarumma who might well make his debut in this game.
City looked red hot on the opening day of the season when thrashing Wolves by a 4-0 scoreline, although they have subsequently stumbled. The 2-0 home reverse against Tottenham will give United plenty of encouragement that their opposition number can be nullified, while Brighton were able to come from behind to register a 2-1 victory a fortnight ago.
Last season, City won thirteen of their nineteen games at the Etihad Stadium. That was roughly a 66% success rate on home soil, with three draws and three defeats also occurring. However, they will be facing a United team who lost nine times on the road last season. That was accompanied by six draws and just four wins.
Ruben Amorim will hope that his team can put up a strong defence although they haven’t kept a clean sheet in any matches thus far. There was the embarrassing exit at the hands of Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup and the team needed a late penalty to beat Burnley, with that being arguably the easiest EPL fixture of the season.
Goals Under/Over
The bookies are anticipating that we see Over 2.5 Goals in this game. This has happened in two of Manchester City’s three matches this term. However, the first two Manchester United games saw the goal tally fail to go over 2.5. That was before the 3-2 victory against Burnley where the Red Devils defence were left open and nearly ended up dropping two points.
The thinking is that City are likely to score a couple of goals as a bare minimum. They did manage to notch forty-three goals in the space of nineteen Etihad Stadium clashes last term. That is an average of more than two. They also conceded twenty-three times and they have shipped two goals in each of the past two games.
Can we expect United to find the net here? They drew a blank against Arsenal despite creating lots of chances and only scored once at Craven Cottage. Three goals came against Burnley although they might find chance creation a lot tougher against quality opposition.
BTTS
There’s a 64% chance of both teams finding the net according to the latest betting odds. Interestingly, the sides played out a goalless draw when they last met. That was at Old Trafford back in April when any chance of landing the title had gone for Manchester City, while Manchester United were busy preparing for an impending Europa League final.
However, the four previous meetings did involve both sides finding the net. That included that December Etihad clash when it looked for all the world as though City were going to run out 1-0 winners. That’s before Amad Diallo helped to turn the game on its head by winning a penalty and then scoring the winning goal.
It's generally the case that both teams find the net in a Manchester derby. Ruben Amorim will surely avoid trying to park the bus against a City team who know how to break down the opposition. Despite a 2-0 home defeat against Tottenham, the Cityzens created a hatful of scoring chances and will surely convert one of them against United.
First Goalscorer
Erling Haaland is always the favourite to score the opening goal of a game. The Manchester derby is no exception. The Norwegian was on target with a brace at Molineux and then notched away to Brighton. He will be leading the line and looking to get back among the goals after the international break.
Tijjani Reijnders is available at a bigger price and the Dutch midfielder will surely ghost into some attacking positions against United. Omar Marmoush could also be worthy of consideration and we’re likely to see the Egyptian starting the game. Oscar Bobb is another player capable of finding the net and he was on target against Wolves.
As for United, they are not short of attacking options themselves. We could see Bryan Mbeumo get back on the goal trail after finding the net against Grimsby and Burnley. The former Brentford forward was one of the division’s top scorers last term and not actually too far behind Haaland.
Matheus Cunha is likely to be out but Bruno Fernandes is a go-to penalty taker and the Portuguese midfielder has a strong track record of playing well in the derby. Amad Diallo can also offer a lively threat and he was the man for the big occasion last season.