Manchester City vs Manchester United
Barclays Premier League – Sunday 22nd September, 2013 (16:00 KO BST) – The Etihad Stadium (47,805)
The Teams
City
New manager Manuel Pellegrini ahead of his first Manchester derby: “Every game against Manchester United is important. I do not need to be here to know how important the derby is… Living here and working every day here you know it is a special game. It’s a match of six points. It is very important to win it.”
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Have won both home fixtures thus far without conceding a goal (4-0, 2-0).
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Summer signing Martin Demichelis remains sidelined with a knee injury.
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Micah Richards and David Silva are back in training and should feature.
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Gael Clichy is likely to miss out.
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Otherwise, Pellegrini has a full squad from which to choose.
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After completing the 90 minutes in midweek, Vincent Kompany is fit again and will play.
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“Kompany has worked normally all week, played ninety minutes in the Champions League and he has no problems. Vincent is a very important player. He gives the team confidence,” said Pellegrini.
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Despite his critics, Joe Hart has kept 4 clean sheets in 5 games this season. He has yet to concede a goal at the Etihad Stadium.
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Yaya Toure (3) is their leading goalscorer.
Predicted line-up: Hart, Zabaleta, Nastasic, Kompany, Kolarov, Fernandinho, Toure, Navas, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko
Home record: P2 W2 D0 L0 F6 A0 Pts6
United
David Moyes ahead of the Sunday’s derby: “We’ve played well in the last few games and have got a bit of confidence and hopefully we’ll try and show that in the game on Sunday… We’ll go and we’ll try and take all the points.”
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Rafael remains sidelined with a hamstring injury.
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Fabio or Chris Smalling will likely fill in at right-back.
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Doubts remain over Phil Jones and Danny Welbeck, with David Moyes keeping his cards fairly close to the chest during his Friday press conference.
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After impressive performances against Leverkusen on Tuesday, Wayne Rooney and Antonio Valencia are certain starters.
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Moyes on Valencia: “He’s got off to a good start and hopefully he’ll get close to the goals target (7 or 8) I’d like him to get this season.”
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Moyes on Rooney: “I was really impressed with the work Wayne did in pre-season. He is getting the fruits of that. He’s worked hard and is showing everyone exactly what he can do.”
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After struggling against Leverkusen, and with the pacey Navas playing on the right, expect to see Shinji Kagawa return to the United bench.
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Ashley Young is most likely to come in to replace him.
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Fresh from signing a new contract, and a brief cameo at Anfield, Nani could start for the first time this season.
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Otherwise, few changes are expected. “The recovery time from Tuesday to Sunday isn’t difficult,” said Moyes.
Predicted line-up: De Gea, Smalling, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Fellaini, Valencia, Young, Rooney, van Persie
Away record: P2 W1 D0 L1 F4 A2 Pts3
Record at the Etihad Stadium: P12 W6 D1 L5 F14 A15
Recent meetings at the Etihad Stadium
City 2-3 United (09-12-12)
City 1-0 United (30-04-12)
City 2-3 United (08-01-12)
City 0-0 United (10-11-10)
City 0-1 United(17-04-10)
Officials
Referee: Howard Webb.
The 42-year-old official has taken charge of 4 Premier League fixtures this season, dishing out 9 yellow cards. He has yet to award a penalty or send a player off. Was last seen by United fans during May’s home defeat to Chelsea, sending off Rafael.
Assistants: M Mullarkey, D Cann.
Fourth official: Mike Oliver.
Supporter predictions
@TypicalCity: City 1-1 United
@CraigNorwood: City 1-2 United
@TikaTakaGuy: City 2-0 United
@BusbyMUFC: City 1-3 United
@OurCityViews: City 3-2 United
@PeoplesPerson_: City 1-1 United
Notes
Wayne Rooney has scored 6 goals in 9 United appearances at the Etihad.
Yaya Toure has averaged 86.8 passes per game so far this season – the highest in the division.
Rooney is United’s all-time leading scorer vs City with 10 goals in 19 appearances.
David Moyes won 9 of the last 12 meetings with City as Everton manager.
Should he feature, Phil Jones will make a 50th league appearance for Manchester United.
Manchester City have scored in each of their last 52 Premier League home games.
Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie have scored a combined 28 goals in 23 Premier League starts together (van Persie 15 and Rooney 13).
Rooney has now either scored or assisted 40 goals in his last 44 Premier League games.
United have won just 1 of the last 5 Premier League away fixtures.
The past 8 meetings between the sides have produced 30 goals – an average of 4.3 per game.
Score prediction: City 1-2 United
2 replies on “Match Preview: Manchester City vs Manchester United”
There’s very few United fans who prefer Young to Young to Kagawa. So I hope you’re wrong with that particular selection.
To say Shinji struggled mid-week is very harsh. He was involved in most United attacks, and played a key part in Rooney’s fist goal and was justifiably given a 7/10 in the Manchester Evening News the following day. He did tire in the second half which is understandable given he had just recovered from flu. Still he’s twice the player Young is, who to be fair is awful
Agree with Patrick. Think Kagawa played rather well the other night. Was outshined by Rooney’s performance of course, so maybe that’s why he isn’t getting more praise. But he offers so much more to the attack than Young can and he was responsible for much of the link up play between Fellaini/Carrick and the strikers. I’d rather have him in working his butt off than Young’s inability to really create much lately.