This Sunday see’s the first major test of the season for Carrick and his team as Manchester United host rivals Manchester City, who themselves are undergoing a transition from their Guardiola-era to their new look under Maresca. With United having a very up and down start to the season, their latest performance against Sabah in the Champions League showed a huge promise of an upturn in form, but the league form has been patchy in the opening fixtures, making this one feel crucial in the narratives around both clubs this season.

In our preview of the game we are going to take a look at the team news coming into the game including our predicted XI for this one, we will have a look at some of the key battles and players to watch and then of course we will make a prediction for how this one could play out.

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Team News

For United, there will likely be changes from Thursday’s win over Sabah in the Champions League, as this win saw a rotated side and gave rest to some players, where United will likely be putting out the strongest possible XI for this key game.

A huge boost for Carrick was being able to give a first start of the season to Benjamin Sesko in the win, and despite being withdrawn in the 64th minute, he is on a 2-game scoring run and after his disrupted pre-season, he could start this clash as his fitness improves and with Sesko in the XI he gives United a clear focal point to attacks.

In terms of absences, it’s expected Luke Shaw will miss out on the game through injury, however Patrick Dorgu should be available to take his place and while it’s a different approach with Dorgu compared to Shaw in that position, he has shown at the end of last season that he can have a huge impact on these big games. If Sesko starts the clash, Cunha or Rashford will need to support in the defensive side of things but we could see a positive outlet for United on that left side with Dorgu involved.

Predicted XI: Lammens, Dorgu, Martinez, Maguire, Dalot, Tielemans, Mainoo, Cunha, Fernandes, Mbeumo, Sesko

Key Battles

The main focus of this game could well be in the midfield battle, as both sides have a slightly different look to their midfield. With United operating with Tielemans-Mainoo-Fernandes up against City’s Anderson-Fernandez-Cherki there’s plenty of players who can control games, there’s personality and a lot of technical skill both in their passing and build-up play. While City’s gives a more attack-minded feel, it’s likely to be a more technical battle in the middle of the pitch rather than a physical or defensive minded approach.

Of course, playing City you have to consider Haaland’s inevitable ability to score goals from very small chances, and Maguire-Martinez will need to be on top form, but both are fully experienced players and seemingly step up a level in these big games, with Martinez often well up for a battle against a more physical striker.

In United’s attack, they should feel fairly confident against the City defence if they can be cohesive in their attacks. The likes of Cunha-Sesko-Mbeumo can cause real problems for the City back line on the counter and should feel confident of getting chances in this game.

Finally, another key feature to look out for will be the home support. With protests planned pre-game, the crowd will surely be up for this one and boost Carrick’s side into a strong start. If Rashford starts this one, the home crowd will be truly behind him and this could produce one of those ’12th man’ feelings for the club, but conversely if United start slowly or concede early, things could become more difficult among an already riled-up fanbase.

Prediction

This game feels like it really could go either way, and could either be one of the boring watches we’ve seen in the past or could explode and have goals flying in all-over. I predict we will see an attack-focussed display from both sides, with Maresca and City likely to control the game, but United have a huge counter-attacking potential that gave them lots of joy last season under Carrick.

I think we will see plenty of goals in the game, but I’m struggling to see how either side could dominate the play, leaving me with a feeling of a score-draw. There’s no doubt for me that both sides will get goals, but it could become cagey and play out with a draw. From a United perspective, a point would be a decent result providing the team don’t get dominated throughout the whole encounter, and I think City under Maresca would be fairly content with this outcome also.

Manchester United 2-2 Manchester City

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