Manchester City will on Sunday host Manchester United in a biggest game of the season for both sides, as Jose Mourinho faces Pep Guardiola in derby.
It has been a big game again for a while, but this is the most important encounter between the teams since December 2012, when United beat City at the Etihad Stadium to move six points clear of their local rivals at the top of the Premier League table.
The main stick-or-twist issue for Jose regarding the biggest game of the season is whether he continues the trend of only playing three at the back against teams that also employ the formation or if he goes with four.
Against City, this would be a criminal offence, particularly as it is likely that Guardiola will instruct his full-backs to tuck in to give a numerical advantage in the centre of the park. However, a 4-3-3 turning into a 6-3-1, with City pinning United back at home, would be a cardinal sin.
Paul Pogba’s absence just serves to make matters worse for Mourinho. Whatever the case, it stands to be a tight, pulsating affair rather than a cavalier one like down at the Emirates Stadium last time out in the league. All things considered, a low-scoring draw is what I think comes of this particular Manchester derby.
It’s difficult to say Manchester City have been lucky during these past few games; you don’t score three late winners in the space of a week by accident, and they all came as a result of sustained pressure.
But the league leaders haven’t been at their free-flowing, destructive best of late, and while United won’t be expecting an easier game as a result, Mourinho’s side is arguably the only team in the league with the best chance of exploiting this relative lapse.
Pogba is a massive miss, but during October’s deserved 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur, United proved they can overcome a top side without their talismanic midfielder. Much will depend on the home side’s ability to cope with periods of sustained City pressure and how lethal they can be in front of goal.
Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard’s form when attacking teams at pace in the past few weeks has been encouraging in that respect, but Mourinho will almost certainly be keen to keep things tight in such a big game, especially with a defeat surely spelling the end of his team’s title challenge.
Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola has already told several senior Manchester City players they won’t be involved against Manchester United this weekend, according to reports.
The table-toppers can clinch the Premier League title on Saturday with victory over their local rivals at the Etihad.
But for Guardiola, aware that the title is virtually a certainty, the priority is the Champions League ties with Liverpool that sandwich Saturday’s match.
Goal report that the Spanish coach is planning to field a weakened team against the Red Devils and has gone as far as telling some players they will be rested.
Head-Head Man City v Man Utd
Games won: 51
Games drawn: 52
Games lost: 72
Possible Line-Up
Man City: Bravo; Walker, Kompany, Otamendi, Zinchenko; Benalso, Fernandinho, Silva, Guadoga, Jesus, Sane
Man Utd: De Gea, Bailly, Smalling, Rojo, Valencia, Pogba, Fellaini, Rashford, Sanches, Rashford, Lukaku
