Preview: Manchester Derby
Manchester City are six points behind Arsenal ahead of this weekend’s huge Manchester derby, with Man Utd hoping to grab 3 points and hurt their rivals’ title ambitions. Let’s take a closer look at this weekend’s big match from England!
Man Utd – Man City
Old Trafford – 17.01 @ 13:30 CET
What to expect from Man Utd
It’s been a season of ups and downs for Man Utd (mostly downs, if we’re being honest), who are currently 7th in the league with 8-8-5 in their 21 matches so far this season. Amorim was recently fired, though he did not look too unhappy about finishing his stint in Manchester. After a few days of the rumour mill going at full speed, Michael Carrick has been brought in a an interim manager for the remainder of the season.
And what a game he has ahead of him as his first game in charge since coming back to the club. Man City are waiting on the opposite end of the pitch early this Saturday, and the home supporters will be desperate for a positive start under the former Man Utd midfielder. Michael Carrick was in charge for 3 matches as an interim manager back in late 2021, leading the team to 2 wins and one draw.
A win for Man Utd this weekend will take them up to 35 points, the same as Liverpool in 4th, so there is definitely still plenty to play for this season, despite recently being knocked out of the cup and being too far behind the top teams in the league. Fans will be hoping for more goals than when these two teams faced each other at Old Trafford last season, which ended in a 0-0 draw in April. Worryingly for the home side, Man Utd have failed to score in four of their latest 5 home fixtures against their city rivals in the league, including the last two.
Lammens should start, with Dalot, Yoro, Martinez and Shaw a potential defensive line-up for Carrick in his first match back, with Ugarte, Mainoo and Casemiro all hoping to get a nod from start in midfield together with Fernandes, who is certain to start. Sesko seems to have found some goalscoring form lately, and could start up front with Cunha and Mbeumo supporting him.
Mazraoui is still missing for Man Utd, as he is preparing for the final in Morocco with his country, while de Ligt (injury) and Shea Lacey (suspension) are unavailable. The aforementioned Mbeumo and Diallo are however back from international duty in Africa, giving Carrick a few more options.
Man Utd are underdogs in this match at 3.50, with the odds on the home side to score first in the match at 2.30. Can Carrick get a dream start in his comeback at Man Utd?
What to expect from Man City
It’s been a difficult season for the blue team in Manchester as well, with even Guardiola having had to deal with rumours of losing his job, despite all of his merits for the club. Two cup wins in their last two matches, a 10-1 hammering of Exeter City and a 2-0 win away in the 1st leg of the League Cup semi-final against Newcastle, was needed after three draws in a row in the league. With Arsenal having pulled away from them in the league lately, a win at Man Utd this weekend is crucial if they are to challenge for the title this season.
New signing Semenyo seems to have fit in perfectly in the Man City squad, having already scored two goals and won the Player of the Match award in both of his matches so far for his new club. Despite a few disappointing results in the league lately, Man City are undefeated in 13 games across all competitions. This obviously speaks volumes about the ability of Pep’s team, but it also shows how impressive Arsenal have been so far this season.
Gvardiol, Kovacic, Stones, Dias and Savinho are all out with injuries for this match, while Marmoush is still away on international duty, though his Egypt lost the semi-final to Senegal last night.
Donnarumma will lead the team from the back of the pitch, with Nunes, Khusanov, Alleyne and O’Reilly a possible defensive line. Despite talk of their big forward needing rest, he’s expected to start in the derby, with Semenyo, Foden and Cherki a likely trio behind him and Rodri and Bernardo controlling the midfield.
Derbies are notoriously hard to predict, and especially when one of the teams are coming into the match under a new manager. Though Man City are odds favourites here, we could see a match with two teams being careful to avoid losing more than anything. Considering last season’s fixture at Old Trafford ended 0-0, an interesting bet here could be on under 1.5 goals in this fixture is at 5.50.
Don’t forget that we have Early Payout on this one – read more about it here.
Looking at the goalscorer odds for this match, here are the first goalscorer odds for a few of the players from each side:
Semenyo – 7.00
Mbeumo – 8.00
Foden – 8.50
Cunha – 8.50
Reijnders – 12.00
What’s your prediction ahead of this weekend’s big game from England?
Please note that the odds might have changed since the writing and/or publication of this article.
Last updated: 15.01.26
