Manchester City are quite fortunate in that their very next match provides the perfect opportunity to wash the taste of last night’s drubbing out of their mouths. City went to Liverpool for a Champions League quarterfinal match and found themselves down 3-0 before halftime.
Pep Guardiola got too cute in defense and it completely backfired. Now City is in a real tough spot, fighting for their lives in Europe on Tuesday. However, domestically, they can realize the dream of all dreams about 48 hours from now. They can officially clinch the Premier League title, in early April no less, with a win at home over the team they dislike the most.
It’s the absolute perfect medicine for what is ailing the City supporter right now.
Let’s take a look at who Guardiola might select on Saturday in order to make the title clinching Manchester derby come true.
You can expect some changes in the line-up from who played last night in the 3-0 loss, and Guardiola’s comments in the media seem to convey as much.
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction
Attack: Gabriel Jesus Oleksandr Zinchenko
Midfield: Ilkay Gundogan Fernandinho Kevin De Bruyne Bernardo Silva
Defense: Kyle Walker Vincent Kompany Nicolas Otamendi Danilo
Keeper: Ederson
On a side note, part of Kevin De Bruyne’s ballot for his PFA Team of the Year leaked and he selected two members of United- David de Gea and Antonio Valencia.
Manager Press Conference Videos: coming tomorrow
Injury Report: go to this link
United Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Odds via Bet365 City 17/20 United 3/1 Draw 13/5
Prediction: Man City 0, United 0
Mourinho will pull off one of his classic “park the bus” maneuver and thus delay the inevitable celebration until the next weekend.
As always, feel free to post to your own City and/or United starting XI predictions, as well as your score predictions, in the comments section below.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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