Man U vs. Man City
Venue: Old Trafford
Kick off: 2:05pm
Manchester United welcome fierce rivals, Manchester City, to Old Trafford in the Premier League on Sunday (today), as Louis van Gaal’s men aim to make a statement in the race for the title.
Manuel Pellegrini’s City currently hold second spot in the standings, and they come into the derby with a positive record against the Red Devils in recent times.
The first Manchester derby of the season perhaps presents an intriguing point for United fans to properly assess the sort of progress that they have made under the reign of Van Gaal.
With large amounts of money spent during his last two summers in charge, it still appears that the Red Devils are some way short of the consistent quality United followers have come to expect from a club with 20 league titles to its name.
That said, Van Gaal’s men had managed to put together a fairly strong run of form after being beaten by Swansea City earlier in the campaign.
After falling to Garry Monk’s men at the Liberty, United went on to win three games straight before being humbled at the hands of Arsenal.
The manner in which United were undone by the Gunners in the early stages at the Emirates will be of particular concern to some fans, but they were able to bounce straight back with a commanding win away at Goodison Park next time out in the league.
Currently sitting just behind City, West Ham in fourth place on the table, claiming bragging rights today could not only present United players with renewed confidence, but it could also lift them into top spot as they aim to reassert some authority in the top flight of English football.
The emergence of Chris Smalling’s development will be of great interest to United fans, and he appeared to work well with the returning Phil Jones against the Toffees last weekend.
Wayne Rooney’s contribution going forward is still in question, but the club do appear to have found some genuine star quality in rising frontman Anthony Martial.
Given that Liverpool appeared rather lacklustre earlier this term, that defeat to Arsenal arguably proved to showcase United stumbling at the first hurdle when facing a title rival this season and that will have irked Van Gaal.
United will be eager to send out a message today that they could still prove to be true contenders come next spring.
After five games of the new season it appeared as if City would be the strongest favourites to wrestle the title away from Chelsea, given that Pellegrini had led his side to five straight wins domestically.
The depth of City’s challenge was to be questioned not long after, though, as they lost consecutive games to West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur, while also coming unstuck at home to Juventus in the Champions League.
Those defeats cast some doubt over the club’s ability to compete without the midfield dominance displayed in previous years, although they were able to hit straight back at critics with 11 goals in two games when running riot over Newcastle United and Bournemouth.
The win over Newcastle came courtesy of five-star Sergio Aguero, but he will miss the derby through an injury sustained on international duty.
In his absence perhaps lies the major challenge that awaits the club on Sunday, and that is whether or not they can do the required damage with a forward line potentially led by Wilfried Bony as the Argentine’s replacement.
Bony showed glimpses of quality when combining with Raheem Sterling in the victory over Bournemouth, although the striker failed to offer much in the club’s recent Champions League victory over Sevilla.
What that game did show, however, is that the Sky Blues have a destructive gem in the shape of Kevin De Bruyne, whose brilliance turned City’s European fortunes around at the last minute on Wednesday night.
Manchester United possible starting lineup: De Gea; Darmian; Jones, Smalling, Rojo; Carrick, Schneiderlin; Martial, Herrera, Mata; Rooney.
Manchester City possible starting lineup: Hart; Kolarov, Kompany, Mangala, Sagna; Fernandinho, Toure; De Bruyne, Sterling, Navas; Bony.