Given their recent run of form, one wouldn’t be too wrong to expect the Red Devils to collapse against Manchester City later tonight. But, there is one person who does not want to do so: City boss Pep Guardiola himself.
Guardiola does not want his City side to get complacent and underestimate Manchester United, given the fact that the form book says United have only lost one of their last six derbies.
In fact, in a presser prior to the derby tonight, the Spaniard even brought up the example of what transpired when United played rivals Liverpool earlier this year, stating that ‘United is United’.
“Do you remember what happened when United went to Anfield? Last season, 7-0”, stated Guradiola, bringing up the devastating result from last year.
“Do you remember the comments? ‘How many goals are they going to score? It will be easy for Liverpool’. Result: Liverpool didn’t win”.
“United is United. It’s Man United”, exclaimed a composed Guardiola to the media.
The treble-winning manager also went on to hail United midfielder Bruno Fernandes, calling him an ‘exceptional player’, capable of inspiring change at any point in a match.
But City and Guardiola also know that they needn’t worry about chance creation in their side either, as they possess the most feared weapon in all of world football: Kevin De Bruyne.
De Bruyne’s record since his return speaks for itself, notching up 11 assists in just 12 games this season, after being out for over five months, and is already among the top five players with most assists across all competitions in Europe’s five biggest leagues.
This spells trouble for United, who have been undergoing a bit of an identity crisis lately, especially after losing Rasmus Hojlund who was in blistering goal-scoring form following a disappointing start to his Old Trafford career.
United also recently slumped to a dismal 1-2 loss at Fulham in the Premier League whilst barely scraping through the likes of Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup.
Well, Manchester United would be hoping to sort themselves out to some extent as much as possible, as they are set to take on the defending champions tonight, who will be coming in hot after a utterly dominant show against Luton Town which saw the likes of Haaland and De Bruyne wreak havoc in a 6-2 win over the newly-promoted PL side in the FA Cup earlier this week.
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