Manchester United vs Manchester City Preview

Manchester United and Manchester City will renew their rivalry this Sunday when they meet at Old Trafford in the 31st round of the 2024/25 Premier League season.

The Red Devils enter this tie after a thoroughly disappointing midweek loss to Nottingham Forest. That was their 13th league loss of the season and it has left them languishing in 13th spot, 13 points off the top six.

United will be looking to bounce back from defeat to Nottingham Forest and build confidence ahead of a season-defining Europa League quarter-final against Lyon. That said, there will be no forgiveness from the Old Trafford faithful for looking past this fixture, with the Red Devils looking to do the double over their neighbours for the first time since 2019/20, having won the reverse fixture 2-1.

Boss Ruben Amorim stands to make some of his own history, having also beaten City this term while in charge of Sporting CP. He could join Jürgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel as managers to beat Pep Guardiola in three successive meetings.

Meanwhile, Manchester City will look to build on back-to-back wins over Bournemouth in the FA Cup and Leicester in the Premier League when they make the short trip to Old Trafford on Sunday.

The Blues are still in a good position to secure Champions League football, with Guardiola’s men just one point off the top four. However, the loss of Erling Haaland to injury may spoil their hopes of securing the top four, given the Norwegian’s incredible return of nine direct goal contributions in five league Manchester derbies (G6, A3).

That won’t help a City side who are increasingly vulnerable on the road, losing six of their last 11 such league matches (W3, D2) – as many as in their previous 37 combined (W26, D5). If there’s anywhere the champions can start to put that right, it’s across town at Old Trafford as they’ve won more Premier League away matches against United than any other side (nine), five of which have come under Guardiola – also the most by a visiting manager.

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

Premier League Table