The Manchester United vs Manchester City EPL match will take place this Tuesday, March 25, 2014 at 12:45 PM Pacific, 19:45 GMT at Old Trafford. Defensive injuries mean that David Moyes may be forced to play a midfielder at centre back for the second game in a row. The difference this time is that it is Manchester City, who boast a far greater variety of attacking threat than the rather one dimensional West Ham.
United have won two in a row and haven’t conceded in either, but ominously for them, City are unbeaten in eight games away from home, winning six. Pellegrini and his men know that this represents one of their games in hand and it is crucial to their chances of winning the league this year. Win, and they are favorites, lose and Mourinho is in prime spot.
With nothing realistic to play for in the league this season, Moyes could be forgiven for taking the gas off and hoping they avoid Uefa Europa League action next year by staying where they are in seventh. Of course that won’t happen, there’s no way it would be allowed, but you can’t help wonder how well Liverpool would have done if they had the Thursday night games to contend with. Next season Moyes would like an intense assault on attempting to at least regain a top four spot, and that won’t be made any easier by unwelcome distractions.
Man Utd Team News
But this is a derby and nothing other than a 100% committed performance will be accepted. Ferdinand, Smalling and Van Persie are all definitely out however Jonny Evans will undergo a late fitness test. If he doesn’t quite make it, Carrick or Fellaini could be selected as a replacement. Valencia will still be missing due to the horrendous black eye he got against Olympiakos. Fletcher should continue in midfield with Kagawa also playing the second game in a row.
Man City Team News
Sergio Aguero and Nastasic will both be missing for City, however they do welcome back Vincent Kompany after his 1 match ban for the red card against Hull. Milner performed well in the last game against Fulham and he has a good record against United. Dzeko should start in a game of this magnitude as sadly for him and City, Negredo has gone completely off the boil. The absence of Nastasic will mean that Dimechelis continues as a replacement, and he will be identified as the weak link.
Prediction
It’s very hard to bet against City in this game. Even though United have looked slightly improved in their last two games, they haven’t performed against the top six (with the exception of Arsenal), and they will struggle to deal with Villa, Toure, Nasri and co. Despite being at home, it is likely United will attempt to soak up pressure and hit them on the break as they did so effectively at West Ham. But this isn’t West Ham, this is Manchester City. City are 12 points ahead of United, it will be 15 points after this you’d think.
Prediction: Manchester United 1-3 Manchester City
TV Info: NBC Sports Network (USA), and Sky Sports 1 HD (UK).
