English Premier League 2018-19 preview: Manchester City v Manchester United – The Etihad Stadium – 11 November, 2018 – 16:30 hrs BST
Manchester City v Manchester United Tips
Manchester City 2-2 Manchester United at 18/1 with Bet365 Odds *
Manchester City 3-1 Manchester United at 10/1 with Bet365 Odds *
* Manchester City v Manchester United Odds taken from the leading online bookmakers and were correct as of 09/11/2018 – subject to change.
Manchester United got a great boost ahead of their weekend Premier League clash with city rivals when they came back dramatically from being a goal down to Juventus at Turin to snatch a win with 2 late goals.
Jose Mourinho broke his recent strategy of starting games with Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford by introducing the latter in the 70th minute.
The once oft-neglected Juan Mata along with Marouane Fellaini came in as late as the 79th minute and along with Rashford completely changed the course of the game with Mata scoring from a free kick in the 86th and Lobo Silva forced into a own-goal from a glancing Fellaini header.
Whether Mourinho will use similar tactics against Manchester City at the Etihad on Sunday would be interesting to see.
United had shown fighting spirit even before the UEFA Champions' clash in Turin when they downed Bournemouth 1-2 last weekend, snatching a injury-time winner through Rashford.
The defense still looks inconsistent showing patches of brilliance at times while being totally exposed otherwise, leaving goalkeeper David de Gea with all the hard work to do. Against a rampaging City attack this could become a serious handicap.
Pep Guardiola's boys have been in sensational goal-scoring form over the week, dispatching off Southampton and Shakhtar Donetsk 6-1 and 6-0 respectively in quick succession.
Guardiola has been liberally shuffling his front three attacking trio given the riches he has disposal. While it was Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero and Leroy Sane against Southampton, Riyad Mahrez, Gabriel Jesus and Sterling took on the attacking honours in the Shakhtar Donetsk win.
Jesus and Sterling were the top scorers with 3 goals each from the two recent games under question.
City already have 33 goals from their 11 Premier League games so far and look very likely to breach the 100-mark by the time the season ends.
The defensive quartet of Walker-Stones-Laporte-Mendy have proved to be quite formidable, too, conceding a measly 6 goals from the 17 games City have played in all forms of competition so far in 2018-19.
City have been dominant, leading both the Premier League ad UEFA Champions' Group table, achieving this even without the players of the caliber of Vincent Kompany and Kevin de Bruyne around.
Manchester United are a team on the mend. Since their ignominious 1-3 defeat to West Ham United in September-end, United have gone through 4 Premier league games with 3 wins and a fighting 2-2 draw against Chelsea, their best phase so far in the season.
Ironically, while the usual suspects and heavyweights Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Paul Pogba have failed to shine, it's been the younger lot in the form of Martial, Rashford, Juan Mata and Ander Herrera who have led the revival.
Mourinho's ultra-defensive style now seems to be a thing of the past as the Red Devils are now a side more given to attack. That's what they are likely to do at the Etihad, try hitting on the breaks while an over-bearing City dominates possession.
Recent history shows mixed results for the last eight encounters between the two, United faring better with 4 wins as against City's two. Both have fared better at their respective home turfs and bookmakers are expecting the trend to continue at the Etihad on November the 11th, Sunday.
Bet365 odds for a Manchester City win stand at 4/11 and for United a weak 13/2. But with the latter's sensational away win over Juventus on Wednesday night, the odds could change dramatically.
Those for a draw at 4/1 don't look bad in such a case.
