Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus and Ruben Dias have all return having started our 4-1 win over Club Brugge in midweek on the bench.
Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish are named as substitutes, while Aymeric Laporte is suspended after his red card in last weekend’s defeat to Crustal Palace.
This, the 186th Manchester Derby, will be the first game between these two sides in front of fans since March 2020.
Teams
United
XI: De Gea, Lindelof, Bailly, Maguire, Ronaldo, Greenwood, Fred, Fernandes, Shaw, Wan-Bissaka, McTominay
Subs: Henderson, Telles, Dalot, Lingard, Matic, Van De Beek, Martial, Rashford, Sancho
City
XI: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Stones, Cancelo, Rodri, Gundogan, Bernardo, De Bruyne, Jesus, Foden
Subs: Steffen, Carson, Ake, Sterling, Grealish, Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Mahrez, Palmer
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City tactics
Pep Guardiola has opted for his preferred 4-3-3 formation for this crucial game against Manchester United.
Ederson will be protected by a back four of Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, John Stones and Joao Cancelo.
Walker, as ever, will add width on the overlap when City are attacking, whereas Cancelo will often tuck inside and cut in onto his right foot.
Stones was excellent in midweek, with his propensity to step into midfield and start attacks providing an added dimension to our play.
It’s perhaps the makeup City’s front six which is more difficult to predict.
Rodri’s job is to sit in front of the back four and offer an additional layer of protection.
Gundogan will sit just in front of him, providing guile and precision passing, and it’s likely Bernardo will complete the central trio.
That would leave Kevin De Bruyne as the most likely candidate to play as the False 9, with Gabriel Jesus to his right and Phil Foden on the left.
Those six are likely to be fluid, though, with Foden and Bernardo both capable of leading the line.
Indeed, it’s City’s unpredictability, with so many players able to operate in a variety of roles, that makes us so difficult to combat.
Much of United’s recent success against City has been built on their counter-attacking game – they sit back, soak up pressure and break at speed. They have the players at their disposal to play that way and do it efficiently and ruthlessly.
But this season United’s style has altered, with a high-pressing game employed on a number of occasions.
I’ll be interesting to see which way Ole Gunnar Solksjaer goes on this occasion: stick with a method that has brought them results against us before, or continue his transition to a different approach?
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistants: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett
Fourth official: Robert Jones
VAR: Darren England
Assistant VAR: Dan Rabathan
Match Facts
City have won 15 of their last 18 away Premier League matches (D1 L2), scoring 42 goals across those 18 games.
Since Pep Guardiola joined Manchester City at the start of the 2016-17 season, the Citizens have won 70 of his 100 away Premier League matches in charge – 10 more than any other side has won on the road in that time (Liverpool, 60).
Manchester United have lost five of their last 11 home matches in all competitions (W4 D2), more than they’d lost in their previous 25 at Old Trafford (W16 D5 L4).
Man Utd have only kept two clean sheets in 16 home Premier League games in 2021, conceding 25 goals. It is the most league goals they have conceded in a calendar year at home since 1978, when they shipped 27.
Manchester United are unbeaten in their four most recent league games against Manchester City (W3, D1), their longest such run since a six-match sequence between 2008 and 2011.
Only three of the past 16 Manchester derbies in all competitions have been won by the home team, compared to 10 away victories. The visiting side kept a clean sheet in four of the previous five encounters, including all three meetings last season.
City are chasing an eighth Premier League win away to United, which would be the most by any club. They have won six of their last 10 top-flight matches at Old Trafford (D2, L2).
