How Will Manchester United and Manchester City Fare When They Meet in September?

Manchester United and Manchester City were supposed to serve up an appetiser for the forthcoming season in Beijing on Monday. Unfortunately, due to a rain-damaged pitch at the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium in China’s capital, the game was cancelled.

Read a further statement on today’s cancelled match in Beijing: https://t.co/jPNVcn2KHb #MUTOUR pic.twitter.com/xMEbX6pbld

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 25, 2016

Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola will have to wait until 12:30 p.m. BST on 10 September to resume old acquaintances.

There is a lot of room for speculation about how things will look by the time they do. What might the two XIs look like? Will either manager have been able to stamp his character on his team by then? Will one have an advantage over the other in terms of hitting the ground running?

A message from @JuanMata8 following today’s cancelled game… https://t.co/qc2fpZLwxj

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 25, 2016

The competitiveness of the Premier League is such that plenty of tests await Mourinho and Guardiola in their first three matches of the campaign, before they meet each other.

City play Sunderland and West Ham United at home and travel to Stoke City. United make the long trip to Bournemouth, play Southampton at home and then travel to Hull City before receiving their neighbours’ visit.

All of those games will contain their own unique challenges, and with the way the last few seasons have gone for both Manchester clubs, they will be delighted to get nine points from their opening three encounters—indeed six or seven points would be par.

But their fourth league game, when they face off at Old Trafford, will be the first truly mouthwatering clash for either side.

City versus United is always, of course, one of the games both sets of fans look for. Since the investment kicked in at City, it has been of significant interest to neutrals too—especially when United were still competing for titles under Sir Alex Ferguson.

The last few seasons have seen the sheen come off the non-partisan appeal of the game as United in particular have struggled.

This time, however—at least for the days around the game—it will be the biggest story in world football.

Much has been and will continue to be written about the Mourinho-Guardiola rivalry. Xabi Alonso, a man who has played for both, said ahead of the cancelled game, per Sky Sports:

It is going to be very exciting to watch them, especially in the same city now. It is a challenge for both to be against each other. I am definitely going to be watching it from here and keeping my eye on what is happening.

I had the privilege of working with both of them and I have a great relationship with them. There is a lot of hype around them. That is what they come to expect because they are big coaches in difficult jobs which brings a lot pressure.

That hype will reach fever pitch by lunchtime in Manchester on 10 September. A reasonable guess at a United XI (injuries and the transfer market permitting) could be:

There are a couple of working theses behind that XI.

The first is that Paul Pogba will indeed …

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