Man City take on Man United at Old Trafford on Sunday, in the final Manchester derby of the 2024/25 season.
Manchester City head to Old Trafford looking for a third-straight win after their 2-0 win over Leicester City in midweek, which followed on from their FA Cup win over Bournemouth following the March international break.
On the other side of the city, Ruben Amorim’s Man United are looking to bounce back from a 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest in their last outing with 14 points currently separating the Red Devils and City in the Premier League table.
Ahead of Sunday, Kevin De Bruyne has announced he’s leaving Man City in the summer when his contract expires. Amorim hailed De Bruyne’s career in his pre-Man City press conference on Friday afternoon.
Man City team news ahead of Man United clash
The big bit of injury news at the Etihad right no regards Erling Haaland. The striker picked up an ankle injury against Bournemouth last weekend and now faces up to seven weeks on the sidelines, though Pep Guardiola is hopeful that Haaland returns for the Club World Cup in the summer.
Elsewhere, City are expected to remain without defenders Nathan Ake, John Stones, and Manuel Akanji for a while longer yet, whilst Rodri remains sidelined following his serious knee injury earlier in the campaign.
Predicted Man City lineup vs Man United as Jack Grealish starts
With no Haaland there was a lot of debate about how Pep would line up against Leicester City. In the end, he did what many expected him to do and played Omar Marmoush as the no.9 and expect him to do so again, with Marmoush impressing against the Foxes.
Jack Grealish impressed against Leicester City scoring his first Premier League goal of the season, and it may well have been a good enough performance to keep himself in the XI to face Man City.
Elsewhere, expect Mateo Kovacic to return to the XI in what is bound to be a physical game, especially in the midfield. Phil Foden was also an unused substitute against Leicester City so he could come straight into the XI for Jeremy Doku.
In defence, Man City fans want Josko Gvardiol to stay in the middle but expect Pep to push him back out to the left and take Nico O’Reilly out of the XI, with Abdukodir Khusanov bound to return after being rested against Leicester.
Here’s how we think Man City will line up against Man United on Sunday…
Ederson (GK)
Gvardiol
Dias
Khusanov
Lewis
Gundogan
Kovacic
Foden
Grealish
Savinho
Marmoush
