Erling Haaland broke out of his mini-slump, I guess you could call it. When you’re Haaland, and you can score at will, and you play for treble winning Man City, well, these are standards now. We’ll see if Erik ten Hag can contain him with Harry Maguire, Jonny Evans, Victor Lindelof, Raphael Varane or whomever the Dutchman tries to throw at the best pure scorer on Earth.
Another interesting position battle to watch is Rodri, City’s best overall player, one could reasonably argue, versus Bruno Fernandes.
Manchester Derby FYIs
Kickoff: Oct 29, 4:30pm, Old Trafford
Starting XI Predictions:ย Man Unitedย ย ย Man City
Team News: Man Unitedย ย Man City
Transatlantic Passage: How the Premier League Redefined Soccer in America:ย LINK
Odds/Probability: United Win 4/1, 20% | City 8/13, 61.9% | Draw 3/1, 25%
Table Position: United 8th, 15 ptsย ย City 2nd, 21 pts
Premier League Form:ย Man Unitedย WWLWLย ย Man City WLLWW
Honestly, it may just come down to who wins the battle in midfield here wins this match. City is heavily tipped to take all three points, and deservedly so, but this is a derby, so anything can happen.
Man City Starting XI Prediction for Manchester Derby
Ederson; Josko Gvardiol, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Kyle Walker; Rodri, Rico Lewisl Mateo Kovacic, Jeremy Doku, Jack Grealish; Erling Haaland
Prediction: Man City 2, Man United 1
Not going out on a limb here. Just going with the safe choice.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager ofย The Sports Bank.ย Heโs also theย author of โTransatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,โ andย โNo, I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.โ
Heโs written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News,ย Sports Illustratedย andย theย Chicago Tribune.ย He regularly appears onย NTD Newsย andย WGN News Now.ย Follow the websiteย onย Twitterย andย Instagram.
