Manchester United Vs. Manchester City: The 191st Derby That Makes Old Trafford Hot

Andree Onana and Marcus Rashford, two MU players will be key in the Manchester derby. (photo: twitter @manutd)

JAKARTA - Football crazys will flood Old Trafford's staff in their 191st meeting at the Manchester derby on Sunday, October 29 when Manchester United meet their fierce neighbor, Manchester City.

Both teams entered this much-awaited battle after winning in the Champions League. Where Manchester United beat Copenhagen 1-0, while last season's Champions League champions beat BSC Young Boys 3-1.

In Man United's first home game since the death of legend Sir Bobby Charlton, fans of Man United and Copenhagen stood together during a very emotional pre-match tribute to the 1966 World Cup winner. Sir Bobby Charlton's death and legacy will also be respected with a memorial moment across the country this weekend.

Erik ten Hag this time needs to rely on Diogo Dalot's beautiful goals like when he defeated Sheffield United in his latest Premier League match, to dampen City. Moreover, their attacking performances in several blar masig matches, so defense players even had to save the team.

Harry Maguire's goal in the second half and a penalty save in injury time from goalkeeper Andre Onana left Man United on target of winning the Champions League game for the third time, highly evacuated.

Ten Hag's team currently have won three games in a row for the first time in the 2023-24 season, but none of those wins were convincing.

However, after being able to contain the threat of Sheffield United and Brentford in the last two games in the Premier League, the Red Devils have now moved up to eighth in the standings with 15 points.

This season only Southampton and Crystal Palace have prevented Man United from scoring in the Inggrius League home game since the start of the 2022-23 season. But the Man United defense, which has been holding back, has yet to record a clean sheet at Old Trafford this season, is good news for Erling Haaland and his friends.

Having scored in a European competition that has been going on since April, Haaland has now found his sharpness in the Champions League as Man City continued their title defense against Young Boys, who lasted for the first 45 minutes before Manuel Akanji scored an early goal in the second half.

Switzerland's international, Akanji, goal at home was quickly rewarded with a kick created by Meschack Elia, but Haaland scored his first goal through a penalty spot, after he missed five goals-free games in the Champions League. The goal seemed to open the faucet, and he also scored his second goal with a high-accuracy shot into the top corner of the net.

The unbeaten record in European competitions this season, reversed with Pep Guardiola's record team in the domestic league. Luckily they were able to avoid defeat in the Premier League for the third time in a row last weekend, after eliminating Brighton & Hove Albion with a score of 2-1. Previously they had lost to Wolves 1-2 and Arsenal 0-1.

However, statistics are not in favor of the visitors, as Man City has now played six matches without recording a clean sheet in all tournaments. They risk three successive defeats in the Premier League for the first time in the Guardiola era. The last time they experienced a winless state like this in the top caste was in the Manuel Pellegrini era in 2016.

The record is clearly not desirable for this Katalan coach, as Man United managed to win 2-1 in their derby match in January. But Man City soon completed their revenge mission in the FA Cup final to win a treble title in English football.

In the treatment room, United started to empty, although Ten Hag still had several players sidelined in the long term, including Leandro Martinez (leg), Luke Shaw (dot), Amad Diallo (lutut), and Badminton Malacia (lutut), while the exile of Jadon Sancho did not appear to end anytime soon.

However, there is silent optimism that Casemiro will be able to return to midfield as he struggles back from his injury during his tenure with the Brazilian national team. Meanwhile Aaron Wan-Bissaka will also soon return from a thigh problem but is likely to only sit on the bench.

While most of the starting players from Tuesday were supposed to get a prize here, Sofyan Amrabat only lasted 45 minutes before being sent out to be replaced by Christian Eriksen, who had shown a slick performance to start with Casemiro or Scott McTominay at the derby.

For City, after returning to Switzerland scoring goals, Man City defender Akanji will now return to British soil, as the former Borussia Dortmund player was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in the match against Brighton, so he will miss the derby for a ban on playing.

However, apart from being a centre-back who was banned, Kevin De Bruyne is the only pting player who will miss this match due to a hamstring injury, so he is forced to watch the match from the sidelines once again.

In addition to the possible return of John Stones, players such as Josko Gvardiol, Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva, and Phil Foden are also predicted to return to the starting XI City. Likewise with Alvarez, the Argentine player who saw his fifth goal this season was disallowed at the Wankdorf Stadium.

Estimated Lineup Of Players

Manchester United: Onana; Dalot, Varane, Maguire, Reguilon; Casemiro, Eriksen; Antony, Fernandes, Rashford; Hojlund

Estimated line-up Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri, Silva; Doku, Alvarez, Foden; Haaland