Manchester Metropolis welcome native rivals Manchester United to the Etihad Stadium within the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
Pep Guardiola has overseen 170 residence matches since arriving in east Manchester six years in the past. The Catalan’s Metropolis facet has misplaced simply 17 of those conferences, with their Manchester rivals United chargeable for extra away victories than every other membership (4).
Here is the XI Guardiola could deploy to keep away from one other derby defeat at residence.
GK: Ederson – Admittedly, the few probabilities Ederson does face are of top quality, however the Brazilian is just saving half of the photographs that fly his approach this season – solely two keepers within the division have a worse save ratio.
RB: Kyle Walker – The previous Tottenham fullback admits that he has change into “addicted” to successful since becoming a member of the blue half of Manchester.
CB: Manuel Akanji – Not the one member of his household concerned in soccer, Akanji’s sister Sarah co-founded Winterthur’s girls’s soccer membership in 2016.
CB: Ruben Dias – The previous Benfica vice-captain is poised to make his one hundredth look for the membership within the derby.
LB: Joao Cancelo – Unbeaten towards Manchester United as a left-back, Cancelo has misplaced each of his Premier League outings towards the Crimson Devils on the appropriate facet of the defence.
CM: Kevin De Bruyne – Usually “tremendous chilled”, De Bruyne admits: “As soon as a referee has blown the whistle, you see one other Kevin.”
CM: Rodri – After arriving from Atletico Madrid, Rodri admitted he needed to adapt to the tempo – greater than the physicality – of the Premier League. “You by no means cease and play the sport,” he defined, “it is at all times run.”
CM: Bernardo Silva – United’s Bruno Fernandes tried to pierce the harmless facade that Bernardo enjoys when he defined to The Athletic: “He is among the guys who’s at all times speaking to the referees. He in all probability doesn’t do it within the intense approach I do however I noticed it within the nationwide crew, so I do know.”
RW: Phil Foden – The Stockport-born Metropolis fan comes from a Manchester United supporting household which counts his father, brother, uncle and grandfather as Crimson Devils.
ST: Erling Haaland – Metropolis‘s unrelenting goal-getter has scored a hat-trick in every of his final two Premier League appearances on the Etihad. It isn’t completely out of the query to counsel he cannot make it three threes (in three).
LW: Jack Grealish – By his personal admission, Grealish is “nowhere close to” full health however nonetheless earned a spot in Metropolis’s final beginning XI, opening his scoring account for the season inside the opening minute.
