Manchester City – Manchester Utd

The Manchester derby will finish without any goals on the scoreboard.

The two strongest football teams from the major industrial city of Manchester have seemed to compete with each other over the past couple of years in achieving the opposite result - who will perform worse on the national and European stages. Last season, Manchester City had the longest losing streak in decades in the league and had to fight for a place in the Champions League instead of the usual championship title. At the same time Manchester United finished in fifteenth place in the Premier League - the worst performance in its history. On the European stage, Manchester City was eliminated in the Champions League knockout stage, a stage they could have easily missed, while Manchester United lost the Europa League final and was left without European competitions for the 2025/2026 season. It would be one thing if these failures had ended for the Manchester clubs last season, but the first official matches of the new football year showed that many of the problematic issues remain unresolved by neither Guardiola nor Amorim. Bookmakers have identified the home team as the favourites for the upcoming match, offering odds of 1.68 for their victory. Manchester City has spent over two hundred million euros on squad reinforcement in the past couple of months. The main acquisitions were Donnarumma, Reinders, Trafford, Ait-Nouri, and Cherki. All the players, except for the newly arrived Donnarumma, have already found their place in the starting lineup. Moreover, Guardiola conducts significant squad rotation from match to match, which indicates that the Spanish coach has not yet formed the core of Manchester City and continues to find the keys to successful play. In the opening round, the 'Citizens' defeated Wolverhampton, after which they lost to Tottenham and Brighton. Ruben Amorim has been at the helm of Manchester United for ten months. Under the Portuguese's leadership, the 'Red Devils' had a full preparatory period and transfer campaign. Having spent 250 million euros in the market on top of their already world-class players, one would think it was time to deliver good results. However, Amorim has already sparked talk of his resignation after just a few official matches of the season. In three rounds, Manchester United has earned four points, with their only victory coming against Burnley, thanks to a penalty scored in the 90+7 minute. The Manchester derby is a good chance for the winning team to relieve pressure from their shoulders and give their fans a reason to rejoice. The rivals will exchange goals.