United has won seven consecutive games across all competitions since Erik ten Hag took over as manager. They remain in contention for both domestic trophies. Pep Guardiola’s City provides them with their hardest test as they attempt to cut the five-point deficit with Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Pep Guardiola says he is considering ridiculous methods to prepare for Saturday’s Premier League encounter at Old Trafford between Manchester City and Manchester United, with sports betting odds all on this game.
Wednesday is City’s first Carabao Cup quarterfinal match against Southampton, but the manager is already considering strategies to defeat their opponents.
City defeated United 3-1 in the first leg of the League Cup semi-final in January 2020. Kevin De Bruyne stated that the team had barely fifteen minutes to work on their structure before the game.
City, however, lost when Guardiola employed a three-man defense against Lyon in the quarterfinals of the Champions League in the same season. Guardiola also started without a known holding midfielder against Chelsea in the final of the Champions League in Porto in 2021. That game ended in a 1-0 loss for the City.
Guardiola and Ten Hag Clash Again
City is in second place in the Premier League, four points clear of their former adversaries, who are in fourth.
Guardiola has won nine of United’s seventeen games since replacing Manuel Pellegrini in 2016.
In his six years as City’s manager, the Spaniard never finished behind Manchester United.
Last Friday, after United defeated Everton in the FA Cup, Ten Hag stated, “I believe we have good faith. First of all, it is essential to maintain a sense of novelty.
There are so many games, and I could tell with one or two individuals that the workload was heavy, so we must also ensure that the players strike a healthy balance between work and rest to be ready for the upcoming games and difficulties.
We know your physical prowess must be at its peak for games against City, Arsenal, and Leeds.
We have already demonstrated that we can win those games with discipline.”
This will be Pep Guardiola’s 500th game as a Premier League manager. He has been involved in 152 La Liga games for Barcelona, 102 for Bayern Munich, and 246 for Manchester City in the Premier League.
Since his debut Premier League season in 2008-09, Guardiola has won 379 of 499 games. This is the most victories and the highest win percentage of any manager in Europe’s five major leagues.
On Wednesday’s EFL Cup match against Southampton, Guardiola will be cautious when selecting the City lineup.
“I’d prefer to face United with the players having played around the same amount of minutes on average, as I have a few ideas, even if they are ridiculous,” he remarked.
Guardiola stated, “I have a few ideas and theories, some of which are foolish, regarding United, but I have not viewed their most recent games. I need to examine how they perform at home and if they make any adjustments. I am currently evaluating the situation, therefore I do not yet have a firm lineup for United.”
Their Last Match
After victories against Liverpool and Arsenal this season, Manchester United supporters likely traveled to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday for a positive result. Their expectations were, however, shattered after only eight minutes.
Guardiola’s squad demonstrated once more that they are the Premier League’s undisputed finest. In addition, they warned Ten Hag and United that it would be some time before they could truly fight for the championship. It was a day when City benched their rivals in the local derby.
In Erik ten Hag’s first Manchester derby, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden scored a hat trick in a rather humiliating fashion. At the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City defeated Manchester United by a score of 6-3, moving them to within one point of Premier League leader Arsenal. It was Haaland’s third home league game, where he scored a hattrick.
Guardiola was forced to play without Rodri, his first-choice midfielder, during the match due to a calf injury. Instead, he paired Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji at center back, but City’s strength was too great. They won eight home league games while scoring at least three goals, matching Tottenham’s 1965 record.
