Is Manchester Red or Blue? We should find out Sunday in what is an absolutely huge Manchester Derby that doubles as a top of the table clash. We’ll know on Sunday whether the Premier League title race is truly on, or not, this season. United manager Jose Mourinho has said that striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has “a big chance” of featuring and that Phil Jones and Marouane Fellaini have “a chance” of being involved.
Thus, we left all three out of our predicted team.
Defender Eric Bailly and captain Michael Carrick are ruled out again. One of the biggest storylines in this Manchester Derby revolves around Paul Pogba, who is suspended for this one but did publicly outline how his team can achieve victory without him.
United midfielder Juan Mata said that City have not won the title just yet.
Without further ado, here is the MUFC starting XI prediction for the Manchester Derby (4-2-3-1)
Romelu Lukaku
Anthony Martial Juan Mata Marcus Rashford
Ander Herrera Nemanja Matic
Ashley Young Marcos Rojo Chris Smalling Antonio Valencia
David de Gea
For the latest injury news, go to this link. It’s an early injury report, but we’ll have a second one for you tomorrow after the two manager press conferences. We’ll have also have video of both manager press conferences posted for you on Friday as well.
Manchester Derby Odds: City- 11/10, Draw 13/5, United 12/5
Manchester Derby Prediction: United 1, City 1
I don’t expect Jose Mourinho to go all out and play extremely aggressive in this one, but I also don’t think he’ll park the bus either. In the end, I foresee a single point for each side.
As always, feel free to post your own MUFC starting XI and Manchester Derby score predictions in the comments section.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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