The eagerly-anticipated contest on Sunday has all the ingredients to make it an interesting watch. City will certainly be the favourites in their home ground.
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The match of the weekend will undoubtedly happen at the Etihad Stadium when Manchester City host local rival Manchester United. The eagerly-anticipated contest on Sunday has all the ingredients to make it an interesting watch. The defending champions will certainly be the favourites in their home ground. Besides, form is on their side, as they are chasing another Premier League title. On the other hand, United seem to be finding their feet following a poor first-half of the campaign.
Manchester United enjoyed a good run of form since the turn of the year and have been getting promising results in all competitions. Barring the defeat at home to Fulham last weekend, 2024 has been kind to the Red Devils. In travel, United have looked even more dangerous lately, thanks to their quick attacking transitions and their pace of the front players. Hence, Manchester City will not take them lightly in the Premier League contest.
However, City have to deal with an injury concern to one of their first-team players, Jack Grealish. The attacker was taken off during the FA Cup victory over Luton Town. Providing an update on his injury, Pep Guardiola, quoted on the club’s website, said at his pre-match news conference, “He will not be fit for this weekend. When he will come back I don’t know.” When asked whether Grealish will be ready for the international break later this month, Guardiola said, “No. I need to speak with [England head coach] Gareth [Southgate], I think he will not be fit. He has to recover well. He has had a setback, he has to recover well so we can use him as much as possible.”
The Manchester City manager then shifted his attention to the derby, stating that he expects nothing but a difficult challenge against Man United. “Always I expect the best from our opponents. Always. The best performance from them is always what I expect. I expect the best, but I don’t talk one word about what they do because I respect them too much. I have a lot of respect for the institution, Erik, and the players. When I know what my players have to do, they will know it today and tomorrow,” he said.
The manager added: “There have been good seasons with Jose [Mourinho] and Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer]. They have been second fighting. But they were there. What I learn with my experience in these games, more calm, relax. Don’t talk about many things, just focus on tactical issues. The emotion will be there. Prepare the game knowing their quality. They were able to go to Wolves – how difficult it is, there – Luton and Aston Villa with the quality they have, to go there and win. It was a few weeks ago.”
Guardiola went on to speak about the quality of their upcoming opponent by stressing on their good 2024 form. “They have the incredible quality. One action, they create something special in set-pieces, transitions, open play. Always has been that way for United. When they play well, they win games. In 2024, they lost just one game, it was last week at home. The consistency is there. So we will prepare the game tactically for what we have to do to get three points,” he said.
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