Key events
22 min: Cancelo pings a clever pass down the inside-left channel towards Foden, who has a yard on Wan-Bissaka. But up pops the offside flag. “It’s boring all this waiting for a transition to attack isn’t it?” asks Gary Naylor, spoiling for a row. “Give me two minutes of Leeds’ full-throttle, high-risk attacking last night above 20 minutes of this powerpoint football.”
20 min: Mahrez and Walker combine crisply down the right and win a corner off Malacia. Haaland’s barely touched the ball yet, but all eyes are on him here, nonetheless. But Mahrez’s delivery doesn’t go anywhere near him. United clear their lines.
18 min: A chance for De Bruyne to break down the left. But he hesitates slightly, allowing Fred, who has clearly been detailed to track his every move, to slide in and steal the ball. The crowd very much enjoyed that.
16 min: De Bruyne bustles down the right this time but Fred sticks to him tightly. The ball ricochets between them and out for a goal kick. De Bruyne looks a bit frustrated when the bounce doesn’t go his way.
15 min: De Bruyne works his way down the left but his pass infield is intercepted and United counter. Eriksen blooters down the left to release Martial into space. Martial crosses low, hoping to find either Rashford or Martial, but Ake hooks clear. United try again, Martial looping high into the box this time. Ederson deals with that one.
13 min: City draw some of the sting from the game with a period of patient passing around the back.
11 min: Silva ships possession carelessly in midfield, a pass through the centre circle to nobody, and United counter again. Eriksen slides Fernandes in down the right. Fernandes enters the box and drags a shot across Ederson and well wide left of goal. That was a chance, and Fernandes grimaces accordingly.
9 min: This game is being played at 101 miles per hour. City are pressing hard, as they are wont to do. United are dealing with it well, though, holding their own and threatening to give as good as they’re getting. They harry City and Malacia is pinged into space down the left. He crosses dangerously, but the flag goes up for offside again.
7 min: De Bruyne spins away from Fred with ease on the right touchline and sends the ball across towards Cancelo on the other flank. Cancelo’s deep cross is easily cleared by United, who attempt to launch one of their trademark blistering transitions, but the flag goes up when Martial wanders offside.
5 min: City are enjoying the lion’s share of possession during these early exchanges. No great surprise there.
3 min: Cancelo rolls a fine pass down the left for Silva, who crosses long towards Mahrez. For a moment, it looks promising for City, but Malacia fights hard to wrestle the ball away from Mahrez, to the deep joy of the home fans. That’s fine defending.
2 min: An early sign of both teams’ intent as Martial climbs all over Akanji, who stands his ground. Then an in-flight Cancelo is unceremoniously brought down by Eriksen. Everyone’s up for this all right, but it’s the Manchester derby, so that’s hardly jaw-dropping news.
Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
United get the ball rolling. City are kicking towards the Stretford End in this first half. Incidentally, our old MBM pal Will Unwin is on a busman’s holiday at Old Trafford this afternoon, and here’s his first breaking missive: “Peter Reid is in the directors’ box dressed like a private detective in a fedora. The Rooney family are on the row behind.”
The teams are out! United in red, City sky blue. A lot of friendly banter between both sets of players in the tunnel. Some post-World Cup catching up no doubt. In a studio somewhere, Roy Keane and Gary Neville are studies in apoplexy. Amid all the friendly hubbub, Erling Haaland stands tall, alone at the back, staring straight ahead in a world of his own, in the zone, preparing for action. Jock Wallace would approve. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.
… and while we’re on the subject of fans telling it the way they see it …
The City players complete their warm-up and traipse back to the changing rooms. There’s a lovely moment as the United fans near the tunnel start to chant for Roy Keane as Erling Haaland saunters past. No need to explain why. The sweet sound of pantomime abuse. A cheeky smile briefly plays across Haaland’s face. File that one under ‘Highly Amused’. That’s stored away, then. But at what cost to United? An assist? A goal? Three goals? Anyway, the bear’s been poked, so let’s see how it pans out.
Pre-match postbag. “ETH obviously really fancies Shaw as a centre back and, to be fair, he’s done pretty well there so far. But City’s attack is a far different proposition than any he has faced so far” – Dean Kinsella
“What is going on with Lisandro Martinez? Luke Shaw has filled in admirably at centre back but surely United are a better side with Martinez playing and Shaw at left back. Or did Martinez celebrate the World Cup win so hard that he’s still recovering?” – Jon Collins
“It’s a lovely morning for a Manchester derby, even if the sun is not yet up here in ‘flyover country’. As a Liverpool fan, I am looking forward to a high-scoring draw, with lots of naughty play and many, many cards. Make it happen!” Joe Pearson of Indianapolis
“City are sputtering around with their tiki tacky and not scoring while United are on an upward tack. United win hands down” – Jeff Sachs
… but if City are very much in the title race, surely United are as well, right? Right. We’ve been faffing around with the cups for the last week, so here’s a reminder of where the Manchester rivals currently stand in the Premier League as it nudges towards the halfway mark.
Erik ten Hag’s turn, and he takes the opportunity to eulogise the incoming Wout Weghorst. “He is the type of striker we don’t have in this moment. I have known him a long time and followed him through the leagues and the clubs and everywhere he came, he surprised. He is a goalscorer, definitely, but he is also the type who works for the team, a really good pressing player. He can also play counter attack. He is really effective.”
As for a possible United title challenge? “I don’t dream. I have to develop the team. It’s only January, so don’t talk about that.”
Pep Guardiola, who takes charge of his 500th top-flight league match this lunchtime, talks to BT Sport. “It’s a good scenario to make this milestone! I would prefer it to be at the Etihad, but it’s OK! Old Trafford is OK! We won a lot of games. We had fun, and we’d like to do it again. You cannot win all the time. But you do all you can to try to deserve it. You have to play every game your best. United’s patterns are better. A good run of results. They are active, not just reactive. They have good build-ups. They are a complete team. I have a feeling United is back. I always feel favourite, but you have to prove it, and I have a massive respect to United. Hopefully United has massive respect for us.”
Manchester United make three changes to their last Premier League starting XI. Of the team named for the 3-0 home win over Bournemouth, Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire drop to the bench, while Donny van de Beek is out for the season with a knee injury. Raphael Varane, Tyrrell Malacia and Fred step up.
Manchester City make two changes to the XI that started the 1-0 win at Chelsea. Manuel Akanji and Riyad Mahrez are in; Ilkay Gundogan drops to the bench while John Stones is injured.
The teams
Manchester United: De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Shaw, Malacia, Eriksen, Casemiro, Fred, Fernandes, Martial, Rashford.
Subs: Heaton, Lindelof, Maguire, Martinez, McTominay, Mainoo, Antony, Elanga, Garnacho.
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Akanji, Ake, Cancelo, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Mahrez, Foden, Haaland.
Subs: Ortega Moreno, Phillips, Gundogan, Grealish, Laporte, Alvarez, Gomez, Palmer, Lewis.
Preamble
Back in October, a mere 104 days ago, City won the Manchester derby 6-3, a scoreline that seriously flattered an abject United. But since having their trousers freshly laundered, pressed and handed to them neatly folded in a high hat, Erik ten Hag’s side have got their act together big time. Of the 18 matches they’ve played in all competitions since that humiliation, 15 have been won, and only one has been lost. They’re currently on an eight-win sequence, boasting a perfect record since domestic football restarted after the World Cup. Tails round Old Trafford way are up.
City haven’t been quite so smooth since their sensational win. In ascending order of uncharacteristic averageness, they’ve lost at home to Brentford, been held at home by Everton, and crashed out of the League Cup at Southampton. They trail league leaders Arsenal by five points, hardly an insurmountable gap for a team of City’s usual brilliance … the only problem being, City aren’t currently playing to their usual brilliant standard. And so, for the first time in quite a while, they go into the derby slightly unsure of themselves, with Pep Guardiola admitting that a repeat of their performance at St Mary’s will spell real trouble against in-form United.
Then again, City were astonishingly good in the first half of their FA Cup tie against Chelsea. A reminder of how devastating they are when they click. And while United are trending upwards, they’re still very much a work in progress, the Ten Hag era still in its infancy, his team benefitting from a reasonably favourable run of fixtures. City, smarting from their midweek defeat and desperate to stay on Arsenal’s tail, could deliver a painful reality check.
All of which is a long-winded way of saying that you can make a case for both sides. So good luck calling it! A second nine-goal affair in a row is unlikely … but wouldn’t it be lovely? Kick off is at 12.30pm GMT. It’s on!
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