Match Day LIVE
-Match Week 22
English Premiership League 2025/2026
Manchester United vs Manchester City (A derby Match ).
Venue – Old Trafford , Manchester .
Date – January 17, 2026.
Time – 12.30 pm.
The City of Manchester in the United Kingdom will witness the 198th instalment of a derby match between the two age long City rivals , when Manchester United hosts Manchester City at Old Trafford , by 12.30 pm ,Saturday .
United s interim Manager ,and former Man United player , Michael Carrick faces the hottest baptism of fire this afternoon as he tries to right the wrongs of the sacked Portuguesse Manager , Reuben Amorin who was relieved of his position few weeks ago for inactivity and poor results .
Their teeming supporters expects a more entertaining match full of goals , unlike their last outing at the red side of Manchester which ended in a stalemate , 0-0 in April last year .
Few days after the dismissal of the bemused and badly positioned ,Amorin from Old Trafford , Michael Carrick came as replacement on a deal till the end of the season . This is second time Carrick will come to the rescue of his former club ,following his three game spell in November /December 2021 when he won two matches and drew one ,as they say history seems to be repeating itself here with the arrival of Carrick to rescue Man United from imminent danger in the English Premiership League .
Michael Carrick is back once again to the dugout seven months after his dismissal from Middlesborough , due to poor results ,winning only 46.3% of his 136 games incharge , he takes over a United team who sits at the seventh position in the EPL ,three points behind the top four teams .
Manchester United have had a disappointing top flight score draws against Wolves , Leeds and Burnley , followed by a 2-1 home loss to Brighton and Hove Albion in the FA Cup third round last weekend, with this elimination from the FA Cup , this means Man United have only 40 matches left in all competitions , their shortest number of games since 1914/1915.
For Carrick to make an impact after taking over as new interim boss will be a bit difficult with today s match coming so soon for him as Manager ,especially with formidable foes like Arsenal and Man City could prove very challenging , they lost the reverse fixture at the Etihad by 3-0 last September and they last failed to score in both meetings against the Citizens in 1973/74 and that was the year they relegated to the Nation Wide league .
United have also failed to score in their last premier league matches against Man City including their last two in a row and have not endured a three game run of goal drought at Old Trafford , against City since a run of four between December 1911 and September 1914.
Frustrated Man City who drew their first three matches at the beginning of this season vented their spleen against minnows ,Exceter with a whooping 10-1 score line in the third round of the FA Cup last weekend , before a 2-0 win against EFL Cup holders Newcastle in the semi finals on Tuesday .
New signings this January , Semanyo who was signed from Bouremouth , have given a good account of his stewardship barely few days to his new club Man City with his impressive performance so far scoring two goals and producing two Man of the Match displays in just few games that helped the Citizens up the ladder of the EPL ,meanwhile Marc Guehi have almost been signed too by Man City to fortify the star studded mid field pack .
The Citizens also boost of a 13 match unbeaten run in all competition and have not lost their last nine matches in the EPL this period .
Not withstanding their extra terrestrial football prowess lately in this campaign , the Citizens also faces an uphill task of cutting the six points gap against temporary league leaders, Arsenal with 17 matches remaining this season .
City Manager , Guardiola presently rhe longest serving Premsiehip Manager with nine years and 199 days as at today ,is gearing up for his 31at Manchester City Derby as City Boss. Only against Tottenham and Liverpool has he lost more games to a single opponent as City Manager , Tottenham (10) than he has against Man United .
All the same , City ‘s supporters are happy that City has won more away matches against Man United than any other visiting team, (nine),while it’s only Liverpool ths has scored more goals (41), at Old Trafford than City
Absentees to today s encounter against City , Noussari Mazraoui who is at Afcon in Morocco and Marhisj de Legit with a back injury ,plus teenage sensation , Shea Lacey on suspension due a red card from their last FA Cup defeat to Brighton
The attacking duo of Mbuemo and Amad Diallo who have been eliminated from the Afcon will be available for today’s hostilities .
Mbuemo , United s top scorer this season with seven goals is likely to start from the right flank
Carrick is leaky to have some selection dilemma as he weighs his option to either start Luke Shaw from the left back or Patrick Dorgu , while , Kobbi Mainoo is likely to start his first Premeiship League match of the season ahead of Uruguan International Manuel Ugarte and English man Mason Mount .
Erlilinh Halaand massive presence is also guaranteed with his (12) goals so far as well as Thiago Igor (11).
Captain Bruno Fernandez will also be available with his seven assists and 3 goals in his kitty this season , he leads the seasons chances created (56), line breaking passes ,(17) and line breaking passes leading to shots (30) this season .
For Citizens , they have series of injury concerns with defender Josko Gvaediol , Reuben Dias ,Mateo Kovavic , John Stones ,Savinho and Oscar Bobb are not legible to play today , while Omar Marmoush is away to Afcon in Morocco with Egypt .
Also Nico Gnzalez is in doubt with a knock
Teenager , Semanyo who has socored three goals in four previous Premeiship matches will get a starting shirt , while a recall got play maker Ryan Cherki who also scored in mid week will part of the first team ,which means Jeremy Dorku will be on the dugout
Max Alleyne will is likely to partner Abdukadir in the central defence , due to his outstanding role at the rear , with the number of duels he has won in previous matches this season .
Cherki who has scored more goals against Brighton (eight) than Man United (seven ) will be partnered with Phil Foden , while talisman and Norwegian international , Halaand will lead the attack as usual , he as scored more goals against Man United than any of City ‘s player . (11-8 ) goals with three assists .
Predictions .
Both have drawn three Premsiehip matchtes since February and will like to reverse the trend this afternoon ,
It’s going to be a very tight match but there will be many goals .
City is already fired up while a Man United with a new Manager , Carrick would like to prove a point infront of a hungry crowd at Old Trafford .
We do expect the visitors to outscore their hosts and claim the three points at stake .
Man United 2- 3 Man City Or 3-1
Happy Viewing ,, Happy Weekend
Uche Anaba .
Uchefreetips 2025 (C).
Email -ucheanaba@gmail.com
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https://worldbeatx.com/
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