Manchester United were top of the table for a couple weeks in January, but they’ll enter Sunday’s Manchester Derby trailing their opponents, City, by 14 points. It is a top of the table clash, but the league leaders have won 21 in a row and counting while the second place side have only won two of their last eight league games.
United also being a 285 minute scoreless drought into the clash with their intracity neighbors this weekend, having played three straight nil-nil draws. United’s recent dip in form, plus City’s record breaking win streak has seen the dissolution of any sense of a league title race this season
Manchester Derby FYIs
Kickoff: 5:30 GMT, Sun Mar 7, City of Manchester Stadium
TV: NBCSN (US), Sky Sports (UK)
Starting XI Predictions: City United
Team News for Both Sides: go here
Odds: City -134 United +320 Draw +290
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer takes issue with the idea that his side is in free fall however.
“We had a week without scoring a goal,” Solskjaer said at his press conference today.
“It’s not like six weeks with bad form. Not long we won 9-0 (over Southampton), 4-0 against a Real Sociedad team that should have won against Real Madrid at the weekend.
“I’m not buying into the narrative we’ve had such a dip in form. We’ve not had margins. Three 0-0s isn’t us and it’s not what we set out to do. We’ve defended well but lacked that spark to score. I don’t buy the out of form one.”
United haven’t scored in their last six matches against the big six, and they only have one goal against that grouping of opponents this season (in a 6-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur).
Manchester Utd haven't scored in any of their last six games against 'big six' sides. ?
Man Utd 0-0 Chelsea
Man Utd 0-1 Arsenal
Man Utd 0-0 Man City
Liverpool 0-0 Man Utd
Arsenal 0-0 Man Utd
Man Utd 0-0 ChelseaBoring. ? pic.twitter.com/z5GmOvUUIS
— VBET UK (@VBET_uk) February 28, 2021
They have only taken five points from these seven matches, none of which have seen victory. In the ten games last season against the rest of the big six, they accrued 18 points and scored 15 times. This has led to critics saying United play too prgamatic and defensive in this matches, but Solskjaer begs to differ.
He claims they approach these games with assertive ambition.
“We’ve looked at it and in a strange sort of way, you might not agree, we’ve been more positive [this season],” Solskjaer continued.
“We’ve been going high press on the front foot, trying to pin teams back. Last year maybe we relied more on the counter-attack, dropped deep and hung on.
“As a coach and manager it’s the worst feeling ever to be defending around the box. We’ve tried to go more positive but we’ve not been clinical or ruthless enough with chances. We have had chances.”
Solskjaer may say the opposite, but right now his United are drawing comparisons to the Louis van Gaal era, when goalless draw were, unfortunately, also quite common.
The entertainment value just wasn’t there- then or now.
Prediction: Manchester City 0, Manchester United 0
Yes, of course I had to predict this scoreline, which is getting to be more punchline right now.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.