"It's a special one, the last time we had a Manchester derby with fans in the stadium the atmosphere was electric, everyone will still remember that one more than the dark moments we had. It's a one-off game, have to start on the front foot, ready, because a lot depends on who gets on the front foot."
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is raring to go, with United hosting City with fans in attendance for the first time since the final match before lockdown. To the frustration of the travelling contingent, it's a lunchtime kickoff less than three days on from their midweek Champions League exploits.
The situation in terms of league position is strange, with City far from a crisis yet susceptible to United drawing level on points with a win today. Of course, the turmoil for the red side of the city has stemmed from the Liverpool annihilation; however, the response against Spurs last weekend was one of high quality as Solskjaer's men climbed back up to fifth in the standings. In contrast, the performance against Atalanta on Tuesday night left much to be desired - Cristiano Ronaldo was forced to come to the rescue again to restore an important point in Group F.
Defeat for United would spell the first time they have lost in eight matches over all competitions in a calendar year since 1989. Furthermore, they are currently enduring a run of 13 matches without a clean sheet at Old Trafford for the first time since 1964. More positively, Solskjaer has the best ratio of any manager to face Pep Guardiola in excess of five times with four wins in eight matches.
It's not a bad time to face City from a United standpoint, with the blues enduring a time of some uncharacteristic inconsistency. It's no crisis, but form is certainly dubious for Guardiola's side at the moment. This current patch saw the Spaniard's side knocked off their League Cup perch after four successive years of success, with West Ham edging a victory on penalties following a stalemate within the 90 minutes. Last weekend, Patrick Viera's Crystal Palace won 2-0 at the Etihad - many thanks to an Aymeric Laporte error and dismissal. They haven't won in their last two matches domestically, though a convincing 4-1 win over Club Brugge on Wednesday was timely and has offered confidence for City.
United's city rivals are third in the Premier League yet - as mentioned - are only three points clear of Solskjaer's side. The varied start to their campaign started from the very off, with single goal defeats to Leicester (in the Community Shield) and then Spurs (on the opening day of the Premier League) a cause for concern. In response, though, consecutive 5-0 defeats were inflicted on Norwich and Arsenal to close out August. September saw revenge marginally obtained against Leicester, before another underwhelming showing as Southampton held them to a goalless draw. There was an important retaliation against current league leaders Chelsea, before points were undeservedly dropped at Anfield in an entertaining 2-2 draw. Wins against Burnley and Brighton extended their unbeaten league run to eight matches, but their defeat to Crystal Palace last weekend following a surprising Carabao Cup exit has reignited some concern.
Failing to score on three occasions so far in this Premier League campaign, City have already matched their total for blanks in the league last term. They have never failed to score in successive matches under Guardiola, but that could change if United were to keep a rare clean sheet today.
The blues ended up beating United by 12 points to secure another league title last season, though defeat to Chelsea in the Champions League Final did limit them to just the routine Carabao Cup success otherwise. Again, City overcame United in the semi-finals of the latter - seconf half goals from John Stones and Fernandinho secured a 2-0 win at Old Trafford in the single-leg tie. In the league, however, United found themselves come away with an admirable four points over the two encounters. The first of the two league fixtures was a stalemate at the Theatre of Dreams, before a Bruno Fernandes penalty and Luke Shaw strike saw City overcome in style on their own patch.
United are, in fact, unbeaten in their last four league matches against City (winning three times over that period). Only three of the past 16 derbies over all competitions have been won by the home team, with 10 away victories during that phase. Hereby, City are chasing their eighth win away to United in the Premier League - this would be the most by any club.
Victor Lindelof remains somewhat doubtful but Solskjaer expects he could be ready to feature, though Raphael Varane is confirmed to be absent for possibly over a month. The manager described Eric Bailly’s performance against Atalanta as “excellent”, so it’s very likely he’ll feature again. Paul Pogba is still suspended, whilst Edinson Cavani has been left out of the Uruguay squad with a reported injury. Marcus Rashford wasn’t spotted arriving at the team hotel, but likely arrived separately or could have joined the squad later - the same could apply for Lindelof.
Former City man Jadon Sancho has been heavily talked about in the buildup to this one with regards to his playing time. Solskjaer said, "Jadon is going to play a lot of games, he’s going to get better and better, of course. The last couple of games, he has maybe suffered from the system we have played, but that’s not going to be a permanent 3-5-2 team that we are always going to see."
"You will see Jadon play a lot and he’ll do well for us, he knows what we want from him and I speak to him regularly. That will be fine. We knew what we signed when we signed him, we believe he’s going to be one of the top forwards for many, many years, the next decade at least."
It appears that City could be without Kyle Walker after he took a blow to his foot in midweek, with Laporte's suspension meaning that John Stones will likely start only his second league game of the season. Ferran Torres is a definite absentee, whilst youngster Liam Delap is also sidelined.
It's a game of considerable magnitude at Old Trafford.
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