Man United Face Difficult Test Against Flying City Rivals

Kick-off: 12.30 pm Old Trafford, Manchester

Coming off the back of a last-minute 2-2 draw with Atalanta in the Champions League, Manchester United host flying rivals Man City in an early Saturday kick-off at Old Trafford.

Manchester City haven’t won a Premier League derby since April 2019 but they head into Saturday’s Old Trafford early kick-off as red-hot favourites to pile more pressure on Ole Gunnar Solksjaer and his Manchester United side. Sealing a 4-1 win over Club Brugge in midweek, The Cityzens visit Old Trafford buzzing with confidence.

United got a much-needed break at Spurs last weekend, where the reversion to a back three proved a solid foundation for what turned into an emphatic success resulting in a 3-0 win.

Unfortunately for Solksjaer, injuries to Victor Lindelof, and to Raphael Varane in midweek, means that the Red Devils boss faces a difficult choice between going back to the two centre-back scenario that was obliterated by Liverpool or experiment a new back three that could see Luke Shaw move inside, with Alex Telles coming into the side on the left.

Clearly, that defensive issue is a concern but if United can get that right, they have a real chance of getting something from this. For all his obvious flaws, Solksjaer has got his tactics spot on when coming up against Pep Guardiola and it wouldn’t be the biggest shock if he did so once again.

Pep Guardiola’s Man City highlighted once again that they can be vulnerable to a quality counter-attacking side by losing 2-0 at home to Crystal Palace last weekend where they were undone by to extremely clinical finishes. It’s a scenario that could easily repeat itself this weekend given the quality of offensive players at Solksjaer’s disposal.

City quite clearly have the capability to cut United, who haven’t kept a clean sheet at home all season. to ribbons, just like Liverpool did two weekends ago, but the absence of a top-class centre forward has been their achilles heel at times and it is worth noting that they have failed to score in four of their last five matches against United.

FORM

MAN UNITED: DWLWL

MAN CITY: WLLWW

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