Man City v Man United Match preview

Manchester City v Manchester United

Kick Off: 7:00pm (Kenyan Time)

Venue: Etihad Stadium

Referee: Michael Oliver

TEAM NEWS:

MAN CITY

City will be without Captain Vincent Kompany, who suffered a recurrence of a calf injury against Dynamo Kiev in midweek. Defender Nicolas Otamendi dead leg in that game, will be assessed ahead of Saturday's match.

Midfielders Kevin De Bruyne (knee), Fabian Delph (Achilles) and Samir Nasri (thigh) are close to a return and could see some friendly action during the forthcoming international break.

MAN UTD:

Ander Herrera is a doubt with a groin problem that forced him to miss the Europa League clash with Liverpool.

Ashley Young and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson have both returned to training after injury and could feature.

Wayne Rooney (knee), Luke Shaw (leg) and Will Keane (groin) remain absent, while Phil Jones is also out of contention.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

Manchester City wins: 11

Draws: 7

Manchester United wins: 19

City have won 4 of the last 6 league derbies, although neither of the last two.
City are looking for their 50^th competitive win in the Manchester derby (W49, D51, L70).
United have won just 1 of their last 5 league visits to the Etihad Stadium (D1, L3).
There were just 2 shots on target in this fixture back in October. The match ended 0-0.
The last time that these two sides played one another at the Etihad Stadium was on November 2, 2014 when Sergio Aguero scored the only goal of the game in the 63rd minute.

City

They have won just 1 of their last 5 PL games (D1, L3).
They have scored 4 goals in three of their last six home matches, but just two in total in the other three.
City have scored 39 league goals at home this season, 10 more than any other top-flight team Manuel Pellegrin has managed prior to the weekend.
City's tally of 51 points after 29 games is their lowest at this stage of a PL season for 7 years.
42 of City's 51 points (82%) have come against sides currently in the bottom half.
Sergio Aguero has scored seven goals in seven top flight games against Manchester United. Only five players have scored more against the Red Devils in PL history (Ferdinand, Henry, Gerrard & Fowler with eight and Shearer with 10).
Sergio Aguero needs 1 goal to equal the most goals scored by a player in PL Manchester derbies and go level with Wayne Rooney (8). If he scores in this game then Aguero would have managed that in eight games, while Rooney took 16 derbies to do that.
Aguero has scored 11 goals in his last 8 PL appearances at the Etihad Stadium.
Manuel Pellegrini could become the first Manchester City manager to win 4 PL Manchester derbies this weekend. The last City manager to win 4 Manchester derbies in the league was Joe Mercer in 1970 (won five in total).

Recent form: WLLLWD
Recent form (all competitions): WWLWDD

Man City possible starting lineup:
Hart; Zabaleta, Mangala, Otamendi, Clichy; Fernando, Fernandinho; Sterling, Toure, Silva; Aguero

United

United have taken just 1 point from a possible 9 in their last 3 away games, losing to both Sunderland and West Brom.
United have failed to win any of their last five meetings with City.
They have won just 1 of their last 8 away games (D3, L4).
Only Wayne Rooney (18) has been directly involved in more goals than Anthony Martial (16) in all competitions for United this season.
Marcus Rashford has been involved in three of MAN UTD's last 4 league goals, scoring twice and setting up another.

Recent form: WDLWWL
Recent form (all competitions)

Man United possible starting lineup:
De Gea; Valencia, Smalling, Blind, Rojo; Carrick, Fellaini; Rashford, Lingard, Mata; Martial

PREDICTION:
Both teams are struggling for consistency at the moment. City have failed to find the back of the net in their last two games, while United have struggled for shots on target. It could be a tight game with not much between them, but given that City have the home advantage, they could nick it with a single goal.

Betting Odds (betfair)