When Manchester City and Manchester United meet, all hell breaks loose. The two titans of English football have a massive rivalry, and we’ve seen them involved in some fantastic clashes over recent years. Their game on Sunday afternoon is the top sporting event in the world, so it had to be previewed here.
Not only do we bring the preview and the analysis, but also the odds for the event with other betting tips and info.
Citizens Accelerating
Guardiola learned his lesson when it comes to targeting the form and in the past three years, the Spanish manager did that job almost perfectly. Right now, City looks invincible, having 14 wins and one tie in the past 15 encounters across all the competitions.
What a move this was! 😮💨@aguerosergiokun against United back in 2018 💫 pic.twitter.com/SBOsrpmvjG
— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 1, 2024
The previous three were pretty good, beating Brentford and Bournemouth with the same result, 1-0, and eliminating Luton from the FA Cup on the road, 2-6. The team is slowly reaching its full potential, and Guardiola planned this long ago.
Since coming back from the Club World Cup, which they won, City appeared seven times at the Etihad, winning six clashes and having one tie, which was against Chelsea, 1-1. The champs recorded five clean sheets, and that needs to be respected. The defense is slowly taking over the entire narrative, with Erling Haaland and De Bruyne doing most of the stuff on the offensive side of the ball.
United’s Road Rage
United lost to Fulham last weekend at Trafford, and after that, beat Nottingham Forest on the road 0-1, following a very controversial goal which wasn’t regular according to some of the fans and pundits. However, that triumph was beneficial for the Red Devils, who needed that to forget the loss to the Cottagers.
United won the past six road games, netting two or more goals in five of them and conceding in four. They are much more fluid and dangerous away from Trafford than there because they don’t have to dictate the tempo and have the ball in their feet all the time. Man United is very effective when waiting for counter-attacks, which is their biggest strength this season.
Some might believe there will be plenty of chances against City, who is always keen on taking the initiative, but knowing the champions’ defense, United needs to be in its best mode to endanger Ederson’s goal.
Manchester City vs. Manchester United Head to Head
City didn’t have any problems at Trafford in late October, winning 0-3 and posting their fifth victory in the recent six meetings. They truly are dominating against the big rivals, netting two or more goals in each of their successes.
Also, just one event during this interval didn’t end with three or more hits.
Manchester City vs. Manchester United Predictions
The Citizens beat Luton, with Haaland scoring five goals in that one. De Bruyne was feeding his colleague from the attack constantly, and the Belgian proved that his injury was a distant past. United is oscillating, having plenty of troubles in defense, particularly on the road. Yes, they have been scoring goals away from Trafford, but the Red Devils didn’t have to meet a team like this.
Our pick here would be City to triumph and to win by at least a two-goal margin. We do realize this is a Manchester Derby, yet on the other hand, the difference between the Citizens and the Devils looks too big.
