Manchester Derby: 3 things we expect to see
Manchester City meet Manchester United at the Etihad stadium tomorrow in the season's first Manchester Derby on Sunday. City are at the top of the league table with 29 points from 11 matches while United have 20 points from the same number of matches. Moreover, City are in great form as they defeated Southampton 6-1 in their last Premier League match. They also won 6-0 against Shakhtar Donetsk in a Champions League last Wednesday.
United, on the other hand, have done well in their last few matches. They came back from behind to beat Newcastle, Bournemouth and Juventus. They also drew with Chelsea in an away game. A win tomorrow would considerably boost their chances of winning the title. However, it is going to be very difficult as City are playing well and have only lost points in 2 league matches so far.
Jose Mourinho, The United manager, would be having happy memories though, as his United side had come from behind to beat Pep Guardiola’s City side 3-2 in an absorbing match in the 2017-18 season.
We would now take a look at the 3 things we expect to see in tomorrow’s match:
#1 Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane’s marauding runs
Both Sterling and Sane are in good form for City as they have destroyed the defence of the opposition with their marauding runs in quite a few matches. Sterling has scored 7 goals in 14 matches for City this season and Sane has scored 3 from 13. Moreover, both of them have provided quite a few assists after dribbling past the opposition defenders.
Sterling usually breaches the opposition defence with his probing runs, goes near the touchline and then delivers a cross to an advancing teammate in the opposition penalty box. Sane, on the other hand, switches to the centre from the left wing and plays the decisive passes. He also gets himself in scoring positions on quite a few occasions to remain a constant threat to the opposition defence.
Maybe, United would employ one of their centre-backs to keep a constant eye on Sterling and their right back would mostly remain in his own half to keep a check on Sane. It would be interesting to see what strategy Mourinho comes up with to tackle this twin threat.