PREVIEW: Man City vs Man United | Team news | Head-to-head stats | Pre-Match analysis

It's Match week nine in the English premier League and the Manchester derby is upon us, for the 188th time, Manchester is divided in two, one part in red and the other part in sky blue. The two rivals will lock horns once again – Manchester City welcome Manchester United to the Etihad Stadium. 

Source: LiveScore; Head-to-head record of both clubs

Due to the Queen's death and funeral rites, United will be playing their first match in nearly a month after overcoming Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League, prior to that, they defeated Arsenal in their most recent Premier league match. City on the other hand won their previous Premier league match just before the International break against Wolves. It's safe to say, both teams were in a rich vein of form before this fixture. 

Head-to-Head

Manchester United boast of a pretty decent away record against the Cityzens, having won three of their last four in all competitions - with all three wins coming under Ole Gunnar Solskjær. In their last five meetings in all competitions, it has been one-sided to a large extent with City having won three, drawn one and lost one - The most recent home defeat coming in March 2021.

Man City did a double over Manchester United in the 2021-22 season many thanks to United's calamitous defending and City's distinctive style of play. It ended 2-0 at the Theatre of Dreams and 4-1 at the Etihad all in favour of Man City.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

• Erling Braut Haaland - The 22-year-old striker has been in immense form heading into his first Manchester derby. With 15 goals in his last 12 matches for Club and Country and seven goals in his last three home Matches for Man City in all competitions, the Norwegian is one to watch.

Erling Haaland

• Kevin de Bruyne - The Belgian playmaker has been a key player in City's gleaming run of form this season. In September alone, De Bruyne contributed to 50% of all City's goals. He is certainly one to watch. De Bruyne has three goals and one assist in 12 matches against Man United as a City player. In addition, the No.17 has created a total of 49 chances for his teammates in Manchester derbies - more than four chances per 90 minutes on an average. 

Kevin de Bruyne vs Man United

• Christian Eriksen  - Christian Eriksen's career which looked like it had nose-dived to a disastrous end when he suffered a cardiac arrest in 'EURO 2020' is back up again and he's looking like one of the bargain signings of the season. The Danish playmaker has injected creativity and calmness into the United midfield, he carries set-piece threat and also has a good record against the Cityzens. From 16 matches against City, Eriksen has been directly involved in 11 goals (five goals, six assists).

Tottenham version of Eriksen vs Man City

TEAM NEWS

MAN UNITED

Man United gaffer Erik Ten Haag stated in his press conference on Friday that Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford are back in training but are not deemed fit to start on Sunday. 

He added that Harry Maguire has been ruled out and Axel Tuanzebe and Brandon Williams are still long-term absentees. 

MAN CITY 

Pep Guardiola in his press conference started that John Stones is still injured, but he should be back in two weeks, hopefully. Laporte is recuperating well, he was training alone while other players were on International duty, he should be back soon. 

On Phillips: "He feels good, the surgery was good. He is getting better the mobility. He took the right decision, otherwise he couldn't move forward. Every training session or two three times he was out. Hopefully he can be back in time to go to the World Cup and after be back with us."

PREDICTED LINE-UP

MAN CITY: 4-3-3 

Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Dias, Cancelo; Rodri, De Bruyne, Gundogan;  Bernardo, Haaland, Foden.

Man United: 4-2-3-1

De Gea; Malacia, Varane, Martinez, Dalot; McTominay, Eriksen; Antony, Fernandes, Sancho; Rashford.

PREDICTION

It would be a 'No brainer' to say this fixture would not produce goals, so we call it a 3-1 victory in favour of Manchester City.