Stop to look at the results of the UEFA Champions League group stage final, Manchester United will take on neighbour Manchester City at home. In the current situation, any team that wins 3 points will have a strong chance of breaking through in the rankings. But for Manchester United, the Citizen has never been an easy opponent to play against.
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Focus on three points.
Both Manchester United and Manchester City are being left behind by the top flight after a quarter of the past season. But the gap is only 3 to 6 points and both have their own compensatory games. Therefore, if they win against direct opponents, one of the two teams will have a great opportunity to get into the group of teams competing for the championship.
Manchester United are under a lot of pressure from both on and off the pitch. They showed a silverware in their most recent game against Leipzig in a midweek match and were relegated to the Europa League. Off the pitch, scandals involving the future of the team’s highest paid player, Paul Pogba, are inadvertently affecting the team’s focus. It can’t be said that Manchester United are well prepared for the home game against Manchester City.
On the opposite side, after the deviations earlier in the season, Manchester City gradually showed their inherent class. They repeatedly buried weak teams and qualified for the Champions League knockout stages with first place in the group. Surely manager Pep Guardiola’s temperament will be much greater than that of a unstable Manchester United.
Prediction of the game at Old Trafford
Manchester United under manager Solsa always played well against teams that advocated playing football and pressing at a high level like Manchester City. They will deploy a five-man defense with two deep wingbacks, two muscular central midfielders tasked with recovering and intercepting, three players in the offensive line with good speed to deploy counterattacks. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is no stranger to Manchester City and so is Pep Guardiola.
But in the current situation, when wingbacks like Alex Telles or Wan Bissaka are not in good form, the Reds will be very difficult to deploy defensively against a team like Manchester City. Another option for Solsa is 4-2-3-1 with Pogba in the middle of the pitch with Matic also a bad choice.
Man City are expected to control the ball superior to MU. This is predictable. Man City usually control the ball and MU plays a very good counter-attacking defence. MU’s counterattacks under Solskjaer repeatedly caused the Man City defence to stagger and embrace.
notable statistics
- The last 5 head-to-head matches between the two teams have resulted in wins and losses, MU won 3 and Man City won 2 games. However, Man City have won three of their last four games when they face each other at Old Trafford in the Premier League.
- In the last confrontation in March, two incredible mistakes by goalkeeper Ederson led Man City to a 0-2 defeat to MU at Old Trafford.
- At the moment, Manchester City’s defence has been much more stable with laporte’s return. This is the fulcfulcies for this team’s attacking superstars to score and win at Old Trafford.
Prediction 0-2
Possible starting line-up
Man United: De Gea; Telles, Maguire, Lindelof, Wan-Bissaka; Fred, McTominay; Rashford, Bruno, Mata; Greenwood
Man City: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Cancelo; Rodrigo, Guendogan; Mahrez, De Bruyne, Sterling; Aguero
👉Live on Sky Sports Main Event at 5:30pm, Sat 12th Dec 2020