Manchester City vs Manchester United: Preview and Predictions

Manchester City vs Manchester United
English Premier League
Date: Thursday, 27th April 2017
Kick off at 20:00 UK/ 21:00 CET
Venue: Etihad Stadium (Manchester).

After failing to make the FA Cup final, Manchester City can only aim for a top four finish in the Premier League. But they are at the edge of the zone as their fourth position is just 1 point above the cross-city rivals Manchester United. However, both Manchester clubs have 2 games in hand that Liverpool at third. A win for either side could virtually take them to third replacing the Kops.

Manchester City’s form coming into this big derby is a tad shaky. Their last two league matches are wins, but those remains as their only wins in the last six matches in all competitions. At home, the performances have been lot better. They are unbeaten in the last eight matches at the Etihad with 5 wins and 3 draws.

United have the better momentum after stretching their unbeaten run in the Premier League to 23 games with the 2-0 win over Burnley on the weekend. There is a higher percentage of draws during the period, most of those coming at the Old Trafford. They seem to play under less pressure while on the road which helped them pick 8 wins from the last 10 along with 2 draws.

Manchester City vs Manchester United: Head-to-head

This will be the third meeting between the sides in the 2016/17 season. The previous two were at the Old Trafford with City getting a rare win in the Premier League clash on September 2016. The parity was restored a month later when Juan Mata’s lone goal earned United a vital win in the League Cup round of 16.

There is only 1 draw in the last 16 matches between the two sides in all competitions. The teams are even matches as City bagged 8 wins during the period while United won 7 times.
United won the last meeting at the Etihad aided by a brace from Marcos Rashford. Overall, they lost in 3 of their last 5 visits, while winning twice.

Manchester City vs Manchester United: Prediction

Both teams are marred by injuries and fitness issues in the build up to this game, with United the worse off the two. Therefore, we might not see a classic derby, especially when Mourinho is a specialist in shutting out quality teams. A draw is good result for both teams and I will go with a correct score prediction of 1-1 at full-time.