City make three changes to the Manchester derby this afternoon.
Men’s crew
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Coming are John Stones, Oleks Zinchenko and Ilkay Gundogan, with Bernardo, Aymeric Laporte and Kyle Walker on the bench.
Teams
City of Manchester: Ederson, Cancelo, Zinchenko, Dias, Clachan, Rodrigo, De Bruyne (c), Gundogan, Iosa, Sterling, Mahrez
Subs: Steffen, Walker, Aguero, Laporte, Bernardo, Torres, Mendy, Fernandinho, Foden
United: Henderson, Wan Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, McTominay, Fred, James, Bruno Fernandes, Rashford, Martial.
Subs: Bailly, Greenwood, Grant, Diallo, Alex Telles, Matic, Williams, Tuanzebe, Shoretire.
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Creation and innovation
Pep Guardiola is joined by a central defensive pair of Ruben Dias and John Stones, with Oleks Zinchenko at left-back and multi-form Joao Cancelo at right-back.
Rodrigo will anchor the midfield trio along with Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan in more advanced roles.
Gabriel Jesus is likely to lead the line with Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez on either side – although this is a progressive transitional line.
City oversees United threat
The Manchester derby today is one of many celebrities that Man City have hosted in recent years.
In five derbies in Manchester since Pep Guardiola took over, City have won just once and lost three times.
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Increasingly, the away team has been excellent in this game with City winning five times at Old Trafford in that same period – so just four wins for the home team in 14 meetings.
That is a record that City will be looking forward to better against the Reds this afternoon as we run on 22nd victory after all competitions.
There’s the added stat that United haven’t lost for 21 games away – a record that stretches back 14 months.
After three consecutive 0-0 draws for the Reds and the fact that sides are creeping up behind them in the battle to secure Champions League football, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looks set to take over. kick off this afternoon.
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At the first league meeting at Old Trafford both sides saw a more conservative approach, with clear respect that could suggest that neither side considered a bad result.
City know that winning means going 15 points clear at the top with a goal difference much better for runners – with just 10 games to go.
It’s hard to imagine that there would be more motivation for Pep Guardiola’s men.
One of our greatest talents of the modern era, Kevin De Bruyne, makes his 250th appearance for City this afternoon.
The 29-year-old Belgian, who joined City in 2015, has scored 60 goals in his six seasons at the Etihad.
In January, he also raised his 100th Town support – an amazing record for an elegant player.
A derby effect would be the perfect way to celebrate his latest milestone.
Stats, facts, and milestones
- This is the 164 league meeting between rivals in Manchester. City have won 47, United 64 and there have been 52 draws.
- Both Manchester league derbies are not from a 1991/92 main flight in a single campaign that ended in a draw (0-0 at Maine Road, 1-1 at Old Trafford).
- Of the eight red cards seen in the Manchester Premier League derbies, only one has gone to City player: Bernardo Corradi in a 3-1 loss at Old Trafford on December 9, 2006.
- City are on the club’s record run of 21 wins after all competitions, from a 1-1 Premier League home draw against West Bromwich Albion on 15 December.
- Of the teams from the top five European leagues, only two other clubs have won a competitive climb of more than 20 games: FC Bayern Munich (23, February to September 2020) and Real Madrid (22, September to December 2014).
- City (W25-D3-L0) has equaled the club’s run of 28 consecutive unbeaten games in all competitions, set from April to December 2017 winning 24 and drawing four.
- City have won 15 games after the Premier League. No other team has a PL-winning streak of more than four games this season.
- In the top four stages of English football, this is the fifth time a team has climbed that has won a league of at least 15 games. The other four were also in the Premier League within the last four years: Manchester City (18, August to December 2017 and 15, February to August 2019) and Liverpool (18, October 2019 to February 2020 and 17, March to October 2019).
- City have won in 40 of their last 41 home games in all competitions. The only exception to that run was a 1-0 loss against Manchester United in the semi-finals of the League Cup on 29 January 2020.
- Ederson has retained 15 clean sheets from the Premier League in this campaign, just one less than the number of PL goals he has admitted this season (16). In 2019/20, the Brazilian won the PL Golden Glove after holding 16 clean sheets (one more than Nick Pope).
- Only Wayne Rooney (11), Joe Hayes (10) and Francis Lee (10) have scored more goals in competitive Manchester derbies than Sergio Agüero (9).
- Manchester United have a club league record of 21 consecutive away games without a loss (W13-D8-L0), from a 2-0 loss at Liverpool on 19 January 2020.