Chris Sutton has shared his prediction for Manchester City’s upcoming Premier League clash against Manchester United.
The Citizens head into this game off the back of a successful FA Cup clash against Luton Town at Kenilworth Road where they walked away with a 6-2 scoreline to put them in the next round of the competition.
With Pep Guardiola’s side now preparing for one of their biggest league games of the campaign, one pundit has shared his prediction for what is undoubtedly one of the standout fixtures of the entire season.
Sutton drops Man City prediction for Man United showdown
In his latest column for BBC Sport where he previewed and predicted the results for all of this weekend’s Premier League fixtures, Sutton had this to say about the upcoming clash between the two Manchester sides.
He said: “Manchester United have been getting away with it for a while now. Fulham deserved to beat them on their own patch last week – and they are not on the same level that City are.
“City have huffed and puffed and got over the line in their last couple of league games, but everything is going to come together for them soon, and it could happen on Sunday.
“Manchester United found a way of getting over the line against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup on Wednesday. It was a really important win for their manager Erik ten Hag, but it was a scruffy one and it did not suggest that United are going to cause City many problems with Rasmus Hojlund out injured.
“I watched Marcus Rashford lead their attack instead last weekend, against Fulham. I’d put Rashford in my Fantasy team and I was so disappointed – he barely had a kick.
“This time, Ten Hag might try a tactic that has worked for United before against City, and go with split strikers, playing on the counter. It’s probably a strength of theirs, playing on the break. But United have got some key defenders out, as well as Hojlund, and how successful they are will depend on whether they can hang on in there during the long spells when City will have the ball.
“City will win, I’ve got no doubt about that. It’s just a question of how many will they score. If it clicks for City, and Kevin De Bruyne has said he feels like he is getting better by the game, then I just think they could run away with it.”
With 26 games played, City are currently 15 points ahead of Ten Hag’s side, who are fighting to finish in the top four.
Having played the same number of games, the Citizens have scored 23 more goals (59 vs 36) and conceded 10 fewer (26 vs 36) than the Red Devils.
This makes it easy to see why Sutton thinks a comfortable home win could be on the cards for City this Sunday.
With the Blues aiming to regain the Premier League title, securing a big win against their close rivals would not only take them a step closer to the top of the table, but it would also give the players a big morale boost to carry on winning.
