The Manchester v Trafford derby

Or, put another way, City v the not-so noisy neighbours…

v Manyoo

Etihad Stadium

Predicted line-up, subs and outcome:

(Number correct from the starting line-up in the last game: 8/11).

Fluid 4-1-4-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

____________________Jesus____________________

 

 

Sterling_________________________________Mahrez

 

__________Gundogan________Silva_______________

 

_________________Fernandinho__________________

Zinchenko_______________________________Walker

 

_____________Dias__________Stones_____________

 

 

___________________Ederson____________________

Subs: Steffen, Cancelo, Ake, Laporte, Rodri, Foden, De Bruyne, Torres, Aguero.

Ederson has the gloves.

I think Pep might see that we’ll need a little bit of speed on the flanks of our defence tomorrow (4:30pm KO GMT) and, for that, I can’t see better than Oleksandr & Kyle. Dias to ‘go again’ but I think he’ll be joined by John who, although I predicted him starting in midweek; I now believe that he was rested / protected for this one. Very wise...

And I think, as we’ve seen in the past, that our manager will go for the experienced head – and skipper – of Fernandinho over Rodders in the defensive midfield role for this particular encounter. Ahead of the Brazilian, I’m guessing that Guardiola will stick with Raheem on the left; with a staple, in-form 3 of Ilkay, Bernardo & Riyad making up the rest of the attacking midfield / wing department.

Having had a decent game last Wednesday night, I’m going for Gabriel to be rewarded with a start ‘up top’.

Zack continues to be the reserve keeper; Joao, a returning Nathan & Aymeric are the rather impressive defensive replacement options from the side (who’d have thought last season that we’d be able to say that?!). Rodri, Phil, Kevin, Ferran & Sergio make up the also-very-impressive midfield / wing / attacking choices from ‘the 9’.

Notable absences:

-       Benjamin Mendy – Not selected.

-       Eric Garcia – Not selected.

Do I agree with Pep’s (predicted) line-up?

Nearly…but not quite.

I’d have Phil in for Raheem on the left and, despite their respective form, I wouldn’t go with a striker from the start and, instead, I’d bring in Kevin for Gabriel in a fluid 4-1-5-0 / 4-6-0 / 3-7-0-type formation. If Kev is more up to speed now and is radar has been re-adjusted then, along with the rest; Manyoo wouldn’t know how to deal with that in my opinion.

Result? Good news for Manyoo! They appear to have repaired, for the time-being at least, their expensive, faulty defence.

In all competitions in their last 7 outings, they’ve either conceded 0 or just the 1; keeping 5 clean sheets of those 7 games. However, the bad news for the reds from just west of Manchester is two-fold:

1.    The second-highest top scorers in the league have stopped scoring; failing to register a single goal in their last 3 games.

2.    They’re playing us.

I think it might be another tight affair similar to the reverse fixture earlier on in the season but not exactly the same – I can see goals in this one. I think it might get a little tetchy too (I hope not of course) and, for some reason, I get the feeling that Luke Shaw in particular might have his teeth gritted for this one as the ref blows his whistle to start the game.

But, in the end, I see a City win.

Last season’s, corresponding pre-match prediction and result…

Prediction: Win

Result: Lost

(Pre-match blog posting from that game)

Expected weather conditions during the game: Nowt doin’ really. 5 or 6C is perfick for the heat of a derby and it’s gonna be dry with just a light, north-easterly breeze.