Tonight (10:30 p.m., October 29), fans will witness the 191st Manchester derby when Man Utd faces "noisy neighbor" Man City at Old Trafford in round 10 of the Premier League.
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| Maguire scored the only goal to help Man Utd defeat Copenhagen. (Source: Getty). |
Manchester derby tension
Man Utd and Man City head into the Manchester derby on the back of Champions League wins. The Red Devils beat Copenhagen 1-0, while European champions Man City beat Young Boys 3-1.
Man Utd have won their last three games but it is not clear that they are on the road to recovery. Last week, Erik ten Hag's side needed a superb long-range strike from Diogo Dalot to beat Sheffield United. In the midweek game against Copenhagen, when the Red Devils' attack continued to be lacklustre, the defence had to step up to the plate to secure victory.
Harry Maguire's second-half header and Andre Onana's stoppage-time penalty save gave Man Utd their first European win of the 2023-24 season.
Although Man Utd's last three wins were not really convincing, there were some efforts from Ten Hag's team. The "Red Devils" are currently ranked 8th with 15 points after the 9th round of the Premier League, 8 points behind the top team Tottenham and 5 points behind the 4th team Liverpool. In the Champions League, Man Utd is ranked 3rd, only 1 point behind the team above Galatasaray and still has a chance to compete for a ticket to the next round.
With their current form, Man Utd are being rated much lower than their "noisy neighbor" Man City. The "Red Devils" have only scored 9 goals and conceded in all matches since the beginning of the season at Old Trafford in the Premier League. That is not a convincing performance for a team with ambitions to be in the top 4 of the tournament, so it can be said that Man Utd's biggest support is only their home ground, Old Trafford.
Erling Haaland found his scoring touch after nearly a month without a goal for Man City with a goal in the 2-1 win over Brighton last weekend. The Norwegian also ended his Champions League scoring drought with a brace against Young Boys in Man City's 3-1 win in midweek.
Maintaining their excellent form in the European Cup this season, in the Premier League Man City continues to chase Tottenham Hotspur with a gap of 2 points. However, the London team increased the gap to 5 points after winning against Crystal Palace in the early match of round 10. Arsenal also jumped to 2nd place after winning against Sheffield Utd, pushing Man City down to 3rd place.
Although rated higher than Man Utd, Man City does not necessarily have too many advantages, they still have things to worry about. The defending champion has lost 2 matches and can completely lose the 3rd match after 10 rounds. If that happens, Man City will experience the worst start of the season under Pep Guardiola.
It must also be mentioned that in the first leg of last season, Man City crushed their city rivals 6-3 and were rated much higher before the second leg in January this year. However, at home, Man Utd won 2-1. That will be a big lesson for Man City before tonight's away match, they must understand that Man Utd really need victories like the derby to be able to rise strongly.
Man Utd received positive news about personnel with the return of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Casemiro. The return of these two players will help Man Utd's squad become thicker, giving coach Ten Hag more personnel options for the midfield and defense.
Man City will be without the services of Akanji as the Swiss centre-back is suspended after receiving a red card against Brighton last weekend. However, Guardiola will not have to worry about his defence with the return of John Stones. Man City's most regrettable absentee will be Kevin De Bruyne, the Belgian player with a hamstring injury.
Coach Guardiola did not let Josko Gvardiol, Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva, Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden start against Young Boys, then only Silva, Alvarez and Foden came off the bench. These five players may return to Man City's starting lineup in tonight's derby to help the visitors "dream" of conquering Old Trafford.
Expected starting lineup:
Man Utd: Onana; Dalot, Varane, Maguire, Reguilon; Casemiro, Eriksen; Antony, Fernandes, Rashford; Hojlund.
Man City: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri, Silva; Doku, Alvarez, Foden; Haaland.
Arsenal beat Sheffield Utd
Meanwhile, in the early match on the evening of October 28, with home advantage and a team in good form, Arsenal easily defeated bottom team Sheffield Utd. Statistics show Arsenal's efficiency, the Emirates team only controlled the ball 67% of the time, launched 13 shots, 8 of which were on target and scored 5 goals.
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| Nketiah celebrates after scoring for Arsenal. (Source: Getty). |
Sheffield Utd did not have many counter-attack opportunities in this match, the away team was under great pressure when Arsenal players played tirelessly from the first minute to the last. There was not a single sign of complacency in the "Gunners" playing style, thanks to that they scored a double at the end of the match to win 5-0 in a sweet final.
Despite putting pressure on their opponents after the opening whistle, Arsenal did not open the scoring until the 28th minute. Receiving an unfavorable pass from Rice, Nketiah took a clever step, both bypassing his opponent and creating space to shoot. His diagonal shot defeated goalkeeper Foderingham, bringing the lead to 1-0. After an ineffective first half, Arsenal launched an attack right after entering the second half.
In the 50th minute, goalkeeper Foderingham let the ball bounce from a corner kick, Nketiah rushed in to score the rebound to increase the score to 3-0. The Arsenal striker quickly completed his hat-trick when he scored the third goal in the 58th minute, receiving the ball in the middle, Nketiah turned and fired a high shot that sent the ball diagonally into the left corner to score.
With 3 goals, Arsenal was still not satisfied. In the 80th minute, with the help of VAR, the referee determined that Norwood had fouled Vieira in the penalty area and awarded Arsenal a penalty. Vieira took the free kick, he defeated goalkeeper Foderingham to increase the score to 4-0.
Arsenal's 5-0 victory was sealed in the 90+6 minute, starting from a corner kick, the ball fell to the ground after touching Tomiyasu. Despite being grabbed by the shirt by the opponent, Tomiyasu still tried to finish from about 5m away to score.
With 3 more points, Arsenal rose to second place in the table with 24 points, coach Arteta's team is only 2 points behind the leading team Tottenham.
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