Prediction, Odds & Betting Tips for the English Premier League derby between Manchester City and Manchester United.
Prediction, Odds & Betting Tips for the English Premier League derby between Manchester City and Manchester United.
The Manchester Derby is on this Sunday, as City hosts United. Each time these two teams square off, the entire world stops to see this spectacle. The Citizens are topping the league standings now, but with Liverpool approaching and cutting the gap. Meanwhile, the Red Devils aren’t convincing, yet they rarely lose. They are still among the top four teams in the EPL but have to be very careful not to lose that last spot which leads to the UCL.
Manchester City
We have to say that the Citizens’ form severely dropped in the past two events. We saw them losing to Tottenham at home, and after that, squeezing a victory on the road at Goodison, beating Everton, 0-1. Until losing to the Spurs, Guardiola’s team looked thrilling.
They still are when looking at the overall stats. In the past five games, City posted four clean sheets. Also, during the same run, they would score at least two goals in all but the most recent event vs. Toffees.
A loss to Tottenham was the first one at home after ten consecutive victories. Man City scored 32 goals across all the competitions during that victorious period, by far the most of any EPL team.
Manchester United
Rangnick’s team has only one defeat in the previous 11 games, which is not a bad record overall. But the impressions are negative when we say that the Red Devils won just five and had five draws. United wasted too many points, thus losing all the chances to win the title, and are now in a pretty tough position when talking about the top-four race.
Their matches aren’t efficient in recent times, with only in the last six seeing three or more goals. It was a win over sorry Leeds United on the road, 2-4. All other games were with under 2.5 scores, but many of them saw both sides netting, to be exact four.
United has a big problem with its defense. The most expensive defender in the world, Harry Maguire, and his teammates aren’t up to the task of protecting De Gea properly, and we can say without any hesitation that the backline is the root of all the United’s problems.
City: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Cancelo; De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Gundogan; Mahrez, Jesus, Grealish
United: De Gea; Shaw, Maguire, Varane, Wan-Bissaka; Matic, Fred, Fernandes; Sancho, Ronaldo, Elanga
City was better in the first meeting this year, which took place on November 6 at Trafford. The result of that event was 0-2 for the Citizens. It was their third straight win, interestingly all with the same result.
By the way, the last six head-to-head games were all with under 2.5 goals and with just one side netting.
The Citizens are favorites here, and we believe that they will win this one solely because of United’s poor defense. Meanwhile, the hosts don’t have such problems, with their backline being one of the most thrust worthy in the world.
Our verdict: Man City wins