Anderson returns as City make one change for 199th Manchester derby

Elliot Anderson, Enzo Fernández and Marc Guéhi will all play in their first Manchester derby this afternoon.

Men's Team

Anderson explains his early love of City

Anderson’s return to the starting lineup is the only change to the XI from Tuesday’s Champions League at Porto, replacing Ayyoub Bouaddi.

The England international will join Fernández and Guéhi in representing City against our local rivals for the first time.

Today’s 16:30 (UK) start at Old Trafford also represents Enzo Maresca’s first Manchester derby as boss.

Maresca on the Manchester derby

It’s the 199th game in this historic rivalry, with City winning 63 of the previous 198 clashes.

We are seeking to extend our 100% record in this season’s Premier League to four matches while United have four points from their first three games.

Teams

CITY XI: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias (C), Guéhi, Gvardiol, Anderson, Fernández, Foden, Cherki, Semenyo, Haaland

Subs: Rulli, Ndiaye, Kovačić, Reis, Bouaddi, O’Reilly, Allan, Khusanov, Lewis

MANCHESTER UNITED XI: Lammens, Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Dorgu, Mainoo, Tielemans, Mbeumo, Fernandes (C), Rashford, Cunha

Subs: Darlow, Heaven, Mazraoui, Yoro, Andrey Santos, Mount, Lacey, Sesko, Zirkzee

Bouaddi: I'm already learning from the best at City!

Tactics

Gianluigi Donnarumma’s goal will be protected by a back four of Matheus Nunes, Rúben Dias, Marc Guéhi and Joško Gvardiol.

Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernández will be the deeper midfielders, with Rayan Cherki, Antoine Semenyo and Phil Foden ahead of them.

All of those will be in support of central striker Erling Haaland.

Derby day

There’s no hiding from the fact these days are different from the rest of our calendar.

Derbies are at the core of football fandom, with many fans prioritising a win in these games over any other.

That this is the 199th meeting between these two clubs tells of the incredible history we share and we can all draw on special memories from Old Trafford trips gone by as a source of inspiration.

There’s no doubt City have generally ruled the roost in recent memory, with United finishing below us in each of the last 13 seasons, but after difficult trips to the other side of town in the last couple of campaigns, Enzo Maresca and his squad will be keen to show our rivals who’s in charge today.

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Analysing Manchester United ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash

Match stats

Manchester United won this exact fixture last season 2-0 but haven’t beaten City twice in a row at home in the Premier League since a run of three under Alex Ferguson from 2008/09 to 2010/11.

We have won just one of our last four Premier League games against Manchester United (D1 L2), this after winning five of their six beforehand (L1).

Manchester United have won nine of their 10 Premier League home games since Michael Carrick took charge in January (L1), scoring at least twice in each victory. They’ve won their last three despite conceding twice each time, last conceding 2+ goals in four straight home league games in January 1972.

We are looking to win each of our opening four games to a Premier League campaign for the seventh time, which would be the outright most of any side (Chelsea also 6). They’ve gone on to win the league on just two of the previous six occasions they’ve won their first four in the competition (2011-12 and 2023-24).

Manchester United have conceded twice in all three of their Premier League games this season. Only in 1926-27 (first 5), 1930-31 (12) and 1969-70 (4) have they shipped 2+ goals in each of their first four in a league campaign.

The two teams (19 each) had the most shots on target across the opening three Premier League matchdays this season, while the Red Devils had the most shots overall (68) and accumulated the second highest xG (7.3).

Luke Shaw could make his 300th Premier League appearance in this match. He’s started each of Man Utd’s last 41 Premier League games, with Harry Maguire the last outfielder to start more consecutively for the club (72 between August 2019 and May 2021).

After overseeing a 2-0 win in January last season, Michael Carrick could become only the third Manchester United manager to win both of his first two league games against Manchester City, after AH Albut in 1895 and John Bentley in 1913.

Elliot Anderson has completed more passes while under high pressure than any other player in the Premier League this season (122), while Man Utd’s Youri Tielemans ranks second in this regard (114).

Erling Haaland has scored eight goals in seven Premier League appearances against Manchester United, although just two of those have come at Old Trafford. Only Mo Salah (13) and Alan Shearer (10) have scored more times against the Red Devils in the competition.