Manchester United vs Manchester City: Match Preview & Injury News

As things stand, United are seventh in the Premier League table, while City are second – currently, 11 points separate the two teams. On top of this, City have scored more goals than the Red Devils this season and have also conceded fewer.

With that information in mind, City should enter the game as clear favourites – however, in a bitter rivalry such as this, anything can happen. United are an unknown quantity at the moment, following the dpearture of Ruben Amorim – something that will give a perfectionist like Pep Guardiola headaches.

The arrival of Michael Carrick will surely give United a boost – not only will the players be keen to endear themselves to their new boss, Carrick knows exactly what is needed to be successful in a game such as this.

Manchester United injury news

At this moment, United have a pretty clean injury record. Only one player is unavailable due to injury – Matthijs de Ligt.

The Dutch international has been out for two months now, but could return to action next month. Either way, he won’t be available to play against the Citizens on Saturday afternoon.

United also have a player who is still at AFCON and won’t be available for selection – Noussair Mazraoui made it through to the final of the competition with Morocco after they defeated Nigeria in the semi-finals. Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo, who also play in AFCON, are now back and will be able to play.

Manchester City injury news

Unfortunately for City, their injury record is worse than United’s at the moment. Currently, they have six senior players who are out with injuries, but they will be given a boost by two of their players returning from AFCON.

Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Oscar Bobb and Savinho are all out with various injuries – Gvardiol, in particular, could be out of action for the rest of the 2025/26 season.

Nevertheless, two of their AFCON stars have now returned to the squad. Rayan Ait-Nouri has been back since the start of the week and played in their League Cup win over Newcastle United, while Omar Marmoush is expected to play on Saturday after Egypt were eliminated by Senegal.

Most recent meeting

In the most recent Manchester derby in the Premier League, we saw a dominant victory for the Sky Blues. United were all at sea as City calmly dismantled them at the Etihad Stadium, winning by a score of 3-0.

Phil Foden opened the scoring with a neat finish in the 18th minute, which was then followed up by a brace from Erling Haaland in the second half.

Despite enjoying more possession than Pep Guardiola’s men, United were unable to take advantage of it, as City tore holes in Ruben Amorim’s system and exploited the Red Devils on the counter. United will be out for revenge in the reverse fixture – can they get it?