Manchester United vs Manchester City Preview

High-flying Manchester United will welcome fierce rivals Manchester City to Old Trafford this Saturday for the 52nd edition of the Manchester derby in the Premier League era.

The Red Devils come into this tie in strong form having won their last eight games in all competitions.  They have not conceded a goal in their last three Premier League games; a run almost totaling almost five hours of competitive action.

That form, and a run of seven straight PL home wins (W6, D1) puts them in a strong place going into this tie against a Man City side not in their best form.

However, the Old Trafford side will know that form goes out of the window when the derby is involved. Having lost the last three games against City, Erik ten Hag will be desperate to avoid a fourth straight defeat against a side that has handed him his biggest defeat so far in his Manchester United reign.

Pep Guardiola’s side beat their rivals 6-3 at the Etihad the last time when both sides met. But since that win, Man United have lost just once in the Premier League (W8, D1) so the Cityzens will know that they are meeting a different United side than the one they embarrassed at the Etihad months ago.

Meanwhile, City come into this tie on the back of an embarrassing defeat to Southampton in the Carabao Cup semi-final, showing that they can be poor some days.

While they didn’t start most of their first team members in that game, ten Hag can point to their 1-1 draw with Everton as a factor when motivating his players.

But regardless of those poor results, City remain arguably the best team in England. They have scored the most goals in the PL this season (45) and have scored ten times in their last two meetings with Man United.

They have  won five of their last eight away PL games (D2, L1) and will particularly be desperate to record a win here to ensure they remain tantalisingly close to Arsenal who they currently trail by five points.

Other fixtures taking place this week in the Premier League Fixtures:

Premier League Table