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Even though I would love to, I, unfortunately, cannot make to Old Trafford on Sunday evening because, amongst other things, I may not be able to afford the trip. But, my eyes will be glued to the television set at 18h30 (Central African Time) for kick-off.
I hope Jose Mourinho is good at maths because he has the task of figuring out a formula of how to beat Manchester City. Pep Guardiola's team is sweeping aside teams while playing the best football in Europe this season. At the end of 90 minutes which Manchester club will be satisfied with the result?
Manchester United
Jose Mourinho's Manchester United started off the season on fire winning four out their first five Premier League games and scoring 16 goals.
Their form started to tail off due to the injury to Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku reverting back to his big-chance-missing self again. But, the Red Devils have maintained 40 matches without defeat at home, and have also still kept within touching distance of red-hot Manchester City.
Jose Mourinho rested Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Nemanja Matic for United's Tuesday night win over CSKA Moscow in the Champions League. He will, however, be without his best midfield player Paul Pogba because of the red card he received against Arsenal last weekend.
Manchester City
Manchester City have won 14 and drawn one from their opening 15 league matches, opening up an eight-point gap in the Premier League table ahead of their second-placed Manchester rivals.
Pep has somehow transformed Kevin De Bruyne from a pale-faced, average, Chelsea reject to a top-five player in Europe. He has also incredibly transformed Raheem Sterling from a 'somebody-please-tell-why-is-this-guy-getting-paid-to-play-football' type of player to an actual real-life soccer player with goals and everything. Pep Guardiola is a football genius.
Record
Manchester United last 10 games in all competitions
WWWWLWLWWW (80% WIN PERCENTAGE)
Manchester City last 10 games in all competitions
LWWWWWWWWW (90% WIN PERCENTAGE)
Prediction
BET.co.za has Manchester City 1.10, 2.45 for a draw and 2.30 for a Manchester United win.
Manchester City’s winning run ended on Wednesday night with a loss to FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League. Manchester City were unbeaten for 227 days.
As I said earlier Manchester United are unbeaten in their last 40 home games in all competitions. The last team to beat United at home were, of course, Manchester City on 10 September 2016.
Jose Mourinho will set up in the 5-2-1-2 formation which he started with against Arsenal. This is due to injuries to his two best defender in Phil Jones and Eric Bailly and he doesn't trust any other pair of centre-backs. It didn't seem work so well against Arsenal. Even though United got the win, David De Gea had more saves than an evangelical priest.
Manchester United need the win but Mourinho will choose his moments to attack, probably at the beginning of the game and if they don't get a goal, they will lay off, soak the pressure and give it another go later on in the match.
My
crystal ball is telling me that Manchester City will play their
normal attacking game and if they score early this game will be won
easily. If, however, Manchester United keep it at draw till around the
hour mark they will be more offensive to attempt to nick one goal.
