'Battle' of Manchester

Man City are in poor form, winning only 1 and losing 7 of their last 10 matches. In the previous round, the defending champions were held to a draw by Crystal Palace. They entered the derby after losing 0-2 to Juventus in the Champions League.

Along with poor form, coach Pep Guardiola has to face an increasingly long injury list. In this match, Man City will be without the services of at least 6 players, including 3 key defenders: Ake, Akanji, Lewis.

Neighbors Manchester United are in a similar situation. The Red Devils have lost their last two Premier League games and have only managed to win hard-fought games against weaker teams in the Europa League. United head into this derby following a 2-1 win over Viktoria Plzen in the UEFA Europa League.

But MU's form in the Premier League is disappointing. Recent defeats to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest have left the Red Devils in 13th place in the table.

Not only that, the Red Devils have not won in their last 5 away matches in the domestic league and have only beaten Southampton away from home this season.

If they continue to lose to Man City in this match, MU will have lost 3 consecutive matches in the Premier League for the first time since December 2015.

Coach Amorim has never lost three consecutive domestic matches in his career. The Red Devils face Man City at the weakest point of the reigning champions in history, they are mired in a series of poor performances under Pep Guardiola. This is considered an opportunity for MU to gain points against this opponent.

In this match, the home team Man City continues to put their faith in striker Erling Haaland. In 4 Manchester derby matches in the Premier League, the Norwegian striker has scored 9 goals (6 goals, 3 assists). This is the most goals that any Man City player has scored against MU in the tournament.

Meanwhile, under coach Amorim, Amad Diallo has directly contributed to 5 out of 6 goals for MU in the Premier League thanks to his impressive dribbling ability.

If the Red Devils can organize a good counter-attack, Man City's midfield will be stretched, creating space for this midfielder to launch penetrating passes.

This is exactly how Sporting beat Man City in the Champions League recently, when they focused on exploiting the spaces that Mateo Kovacic could not control.

Etihad Stadium is still Man City's mainstay. They scored 3 goals in the last two matches here against Feyenoord and Nottingham Forest. Man City has won 4/5 of the last matches against Man United. Especially in the Premier League last season, Man City won both the first and second legs.

The Red Devils have lost their last three Premier League trips to City, conceding 13 goals in the process. The last time they lost four consecutive away games in the top flight was between 1952 and 1955.

However, Man City's defense is a big problem as they have only kept a clean sheet once in the last 10 matches, and conceded at least 2 goals in the remaining 9 matches.

With home advantage, Man City is considered to be superior to MU in this match. Liverpool's recent draw has made The Citizens more hopeful and determined to win this round.

Although the confrontation between Man City and MU this time is not a title race, the Manchester derby is still highly anticipated at any time.

Expected starting lineup:

Man City:Ederson, Walker, Dias, Simpson-Pusey, Gvardiol, De Bruyne, Kovacic, Silva, Foden, Nunes, Haaland

Man United:Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Martinez, Diallo, Ugarte, Mainoo, Dalot, Fernandes, Garnacho, Hojlund