Manchester United and Manchester City will be eager to return to winning ways in the Premier League when they clash at Old Trafford on Saturday.
The 2025/26 Premier League season continues this weekend with Gameweek 22. The latest round of fixtures starts with Manchester United vs Manchester City at Old Trafford, with Michael Carrick facing a baptism of fire in his first game in charge of the Red Devils.
It has been less than two weeks since Manchester United sacked Ruben Amorim, and the chaos around the club has only grown since then. Darren Fletcher took charge of only two games and failed to win a match, with his final outing being a 2-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion, which sent them out of the FA Cup. Since then, Michael Carrick has taken over at Old Trafford, and he will oversee his first fixture as the head coach.
On the other hand, Manchester City returned to winning ways last weekend by beating Exeter City 10-1 in the FA Cup third round. However, that was the Citizens’ first victory in 2026 after failing their three Premier League games of the year. Pep Guardiola’s men followed up the FA Cup performance with a 2-0 triumph against Newcastle United in the EFL Cup semi-final first leg.
The reverse fixture ended in a 3-0 win for Manchester City, with Erling Haaland scoring a match-winning brace and Phil Foden also scoring once. The Hard Tackle looks closer at the encounter ahead of the latest meeting between the two sides.
Team News & Tactics
Manchester United
Michael Carrick has received positive updates on the team news front ahead of his side’s latest fixture. The Manchester United head coach will be bereft of the services of only two first-team players vs Manchester City on Saturday.
Amad Diallo and Bryan Mbeumo have resumed training after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations, and they will be available to take on Manchester City. However, Noussair Mazraoui will feature in the AFCON final on Sunday and will only be back next weekend. Additionally, Matthijs de Ligt (lower back) remains in the treatment room.
Senne Lammens is an automatic pick between the sticks, with Manchester United lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation in front of him vs Manchester City on Saturday. The backline will feature Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez, and Luke Shaw.
As for the midfield unit, there is no looking past Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo in the double pivot, with Bruno Fernandes reprising the no. 10 role. Finally, Benjamin Sesko will lead the line for Manchester United against Manchester City, with Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo completing the numbers in the offensive unit.
Probable Lineup (4-2-3-1): Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Shaw; Casemiro, Mainoo; Mbeumo, Bruno Fernandes, Cunha; Sesko
Manchester City
Like his counterpart in the Manchester United dugout, Pep Guardiola has no new issues to worry about ahead of the short trip to Old Trafford. The Manchester City manager will be without seven first-team players on Saturday.
Josko Gvardiol (shin) and Ruben Dias (hamstring) are the most notable absentees, with the first-choice centre-backs unavailable for the foreseeable future. They accompany John Stones (thigh), Mateo Kovacic (ankle), Savinho (knock), and Oscar Bobb (hamstring) in the treatment room. Additionally, Omar Marmoush remains at the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt.
Gianluigi Donnarumma is an automatic pick between the sticks, with Manchester City lining up in a 4-1-4-1 formation in front of him vs Manchester United on Saturday. The backline will feature Matheus Nunes, Abdukodir Khusanov, Max Alleyne, and Nico O’Reilly.
As for the midfield unit, there is no looking past Rodri at the base, with Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden reprising advanced roles. Finally, Erling Haaland will spearhead the Manchester City attack against Manchester United, with Antoine Semenyo and Bernardo Silva completing the numbers in the offensive unit. So, Tijjani Reijnders and Jeremy Doku will be backup options on the bench for the away side.
Probable Lineup (4-1-4-1): Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Alleyne, O’Reilly; Rodri; Bernardo Silva, Cherki, Foden, Semenyo; Haaland
Key Stats
- Manchester United lost the reverse fixture vs Manchester City 3-0 in September. They last failed to score in both league meetings with the Citizens in 1973/74, a campaign that ended in relegation from the top flight. Meanwhile, the Citizens have won more Premier League away games against Manchester United than any other visiting side (9), while only Liverpool (41) have scored more goals at Old Trafford than them (37).
- Manchester United have failed to score in four of their last five Premier League home games vs Manchester City, including the two most recent meetings. They have not gone three or more home league games without a goal against the Citizens since a run of four between December 1911 and September 1914.
- Manchester United have drawn their last three Premier League games, last having a longer run of consecutive draws in September/October 1992 (5). Manchester City have also drawn their most recent three Premier League matches, last having a longer run of consecutive draws in October/November 2009 (7). Saturday’s tie will be the first meeting between two sides that are both on a run of three or more successive Premier League draws since February 2001, with Tottenham beating Manchester City 1-0 in that clash.
- Only Bournemouth (16), West Ham United (15), and Chelsea (15) have dropped more points from winning positions in the Premier League this season than Manchester United (14). On the other hand, Manchester City have dropped four points in their last two games, just one fewer than in their first 19 matches of 2025/26 (5).
- Only Erling Haaland (12) and Igor Thiago (11) have been involved in more Premier League goals since the start of November than Bruno Fernandes (10 – G3 A7). The Manchester United captain leads the competition overall for “chances created following line-breaking passes” (17) and “line-breaking passes leading to shots” (30) this term.
- Only against Brighton & Hove Albion (8) has Phil Foden scored more Premier League goals than he has against Manchester United (7). However, just one of his seven strikes against the Red Devils has come at Old Trafford.
Player to Watch
Erling Haaland
While Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, and Antoine Semenyo were viable candidates for this section, we have picked Erling Haaland as the Player to Watch for Saturday’s Premier League clash between Manchester United and Manchester City at Old Trafford.
Haaland has been involved in more Premier League goals against Manchester United than any other Manchester City player (11 – G8 A3), having a hand in all three goals on his most recent appearance at Old Trafford in October 2023 (A2 A1 in a 3-0 win).
With such numbers in the Manchester Derby, it is hardly surprising that the Norwegian striker is a top captaincy candidate in FPL again heading into Gameweek 22 of the 2025/26 season. Expect the 25-year-old Manchester City talisman to be at his best this weekend.
Prediction
Manchester United 1-3 Manchester City
Michael Carrick could not have asked for a worse opponent for his first match in charge of Manchester United since returning as the head coach. The Red Devils host a Manchester City team back in form after scoring 12 goals in two games this past week.
With Erling Haaland always relishing his outings against Manchester United, a long day at work is on the cards for the home side. However, they will produce a spirited performance instead of going down without a fight. But that may not be enough to get anything from Saturday’s Derby, and The Hard Tackle predicts a 3-1 win for Pep Guardiola and his charges.
