Talking Point: A must win Manchester Derby

Manchester United and Manchester City lock horns on Saturday, with one point and one place separating the neighbours in the Premier League table.

Both clubs have endured disappointing starts to their campaigns, but have begun to climb the table in recent weeks and would stay in touch with the leading pack with victory in this match.

All has not been well for the two teams so far this season; while Manchester City seem to be finding their feet, Man United continue to struggle with inconsistency and vastly differing home and away form.

Defeat to RB Leipzig in midweek condemned them to Europa League football again after Christmas, despite getting themselves into a position where they only needed one point from their final two games to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League.

The 3-2 loss in Leipzig, which followed a 3-1 home defeat to Paris Saint-Germain a week earlier, was only made to look a little more respectable by two late goals for the Red Devils as they threatened another comeback away from home.

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Red Devils have now won a club-record nine successive away league games and are unbeaten on the road since January, and with questions again being asked of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer following their Champions League exit it is not too much of a stretch to suggest that it is only their away form which is keeping him in the job at the moment.

United’s record at Old Trafford is an entirely different story, with only a league-low 21% of their points – four of 19 – coming on their own patch so far this season.

Three of those four points did come in their last such match as they narrowly edged past West Bromwich Albion, but they have not won back-to-back home league games since early July and will expect a much sterner test against Man City.

Solskjaer has displayed an uncanny knack of pulling big results out of the bag when he needs them most, and he has won three of his five previous managerial meetings with Pep Guardiola too – the best win rate of any manager to have gone head to head with Guardiola four or more times.

Victory on Saturday would lift them to within two points of leaders Tottenham Hotspur, having played the same number of games.

Guardiola’s men are beginning to find consistency in recent campaigns and head into this derby on a five-match unbeaten run during which time they have not conceded a single goal.

Only Spurs have beaten Man City in their last 15 games across all competitions, while their victory over Fulham last weekend secured back-to-back Premier League wins for the very first time this season.

Guardiola’s men have now scored as many goals in their last two league outings as they had in their previous seven combined, while they could also keep three consecutive top-flight clean sheets for the first time since May 2019.

There are still concerns over Man City’s away form, having won just once on the road in the league since their opening game of the campaign.

Defeat to Tottenham in their last such outing was their fifth away league loss of 2020 – their most in a calendar year since 2015 – and that includes being beaten by Man United on their last visit in March.

Solskjaer’s side have netted just three times at Old Trafford so far in 2020-21 which, when coming up against a team with five clean sheets on the bounce, does not bode well in this battle for bragging rights.

The hosts could again be without injured duo of Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani for this one after both missed out in midweek.

Martial’s absence will be keenly felt, having scored in three of his last four league appearances against Man City including both home and away last season. If he does start, the Frenchman could become the first United player to net in three consecutive league derbies since Eric Cantona.