Zlatan Ibrahimovic Key to Manchester United Combating Pep Guardiola’s City Press

As if the return of domestic football following another dreary international break wasn’t exciting enough, the first Manchester derby of the season—infused with rivalry from both a club and managerial perspective—awaits us with open arms. Oh yes.

The newly anointed “capital of football,” per the somewhat biased Patrick Vieira, will see the two Premier League title favourites clash, while lingering flames of bitterness between Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola will also be stoked. It’s the footballing equivalent of yin and yang, and the result could go a long way toward shaping the race for silverware.

It’s possible the Manchester derby has never been a more attractive global proposal. Red vs. blue, Mourinho vs. Pep, Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne…it has all the ingredients to be a firecracker set loose in the sky.

Manchester United

Mourinho has a couple of injury concerns to contend with ahead of this match, which isn’t ideal, but the good news for him is that both Marouane Fellaini and Luke Shaw should be fit, per the Manchester Evening News. The latter is the bigger concern but missed England duty against Slovakia in order to prepare for this game.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan limped away from Armenia international duty and is a serious doubt for the game, again per the Evening News, but would likely not have started the derby, as he has thus far failed to breach the starting XI. Still, it’s an electric option off the bench which may be removed from Jose’s arsenal.

That, combined with the fact that Anthony Martial’s iffy start to the season let up a little as he scored for France at the weekend, means he, Juan Mata and Wayne Rooney will likely retain their places behind Ibrahimovic in the advanced midfield line. Despite Marcus Rashford’s past derby heroics and his hat-trick for England’s under-21s in midweek, he may have to take a pew.

Manchester City

Kelechi Iheanacho says he’s ready to fill Sergio Aguero’s boots on derby day, and he’ll need to be at the very top of his game to replicate what the banned Argentine usually does. According to uMAXit Football’s Scott Patterson, he averages a goal against United every 89 minutes.

It could be that Nolito is preferred up top to Iheanacho, as the Spaniard is capable of filling in as a centre-forward, and with the fresh competition for midfield berths, that might actually be the route of choice for Guardiola.

According to the Guardian, Ilkay Gundogan is fit for the derby and could be in line to make his first appearance in a Manchester City shirt. It creates a real conundrum in midfield, as Fernandinho is playing well and both Silva and De Bruyne are seriously warming to their “free No. 8” roles. If Gundogan takes a place on the bench here, the conundrum will only be delayed until next week.

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