Aatman Khedkar
One of the biggest games in English football takes place on Sunday as Manchester City take on Manchester United in the derby. The rivalry between United and City has always been a fierce one, mostly dominated by United, but the two teams have journeyed in very different directions since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. City have been champions six times since, while United haven’t even come close to a title. The average gap between the sides in those ten seasons has been more than 16 points.
Victory for Manchester City, who are in search of an unprecedented fourth straight title, would take them level on points with Arsenal in second place, two behind Tottenham Hotspur, the surprise pacesetters. United are already six points adrift of their cross-town rivals, having lost four of their nine matches.
City come into this game on the back of a 2-1 win against a strong Brighton team in their last league outing, whereas United eked out a slender 2-1 victory against a struggling Sheffield United. The contrast between the two teams is most stark in attack. City’s forward line is led by Erling Haaland, the Norwegian goal machine who already has nine league goals. Alongside him is Julian Alvarez, World Cup winner with Argentina and in scintillating form this season. United have Rasmus Hojlund, their 70-million-pound signing, leading the line. He has yet to score in the league, while Marcus Rashford has been a pale shadow of the player who managed over 30 goals last season.
After a promising third-place finish last season, United have looked disjointed and bereft of ideas this season. City, after a historic treble in 2022-23, have also been below their best, but the quality of their players and the coaching of Pep Guardiola has ensured that they’re right in the title conversation.
United will hope that the Old Trafford crowd can get behind the team and their players can capitalise on that support to somehow pull off an unlikely victory. Since Guardiola took over though, City have won four of the seven league derbies at Old Trafford, and drawn another. United did, however, win 2-1 last January, with the aid of a hotly contested late goal.
City have played most of the season without Kevin de Bruyne, their midfield talisman and the best player in the league over the past half-decade, while United are missing their first-choice central-defensive pairing of Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez. Jack Grealish, who has missed two months after suffering a dead leg early in the season, is set to return and add even more depth to City’s attacking options.
This match comes too early in the season to be a defining one, but a home loss will leave United well adrift of the Champions League places, and heap the pressure on Eric ten Hag.