Key events
David Hytner
It was a sight the England press pack became increasingly used to seeing after the team’s World Cup matches over the summer. Kobbie Mainoo was invariably the first to leave the dressing room, walk through the mixed zone – eyes dead ahead, features impassive – and board the bus.
It was as if he could not get out of the stadiums quick enough and the further England progressed the more pronounced it started to feel. There was a real gap between Mainoo and the next England player to depart the stadium in the knockout rounds. The Manchester United midfielder is inscrutable, even in the heat of battle. It is part of his enviably unflappable temperament. It was no great leap to imagine what lay behind the mask – tremendous frustration as Thomas Tuchel kept on leaving him out.
Mainoo did not play a single minute at the tournament. He was an unused substitute all the way to the semi-final exit against Argentina, and when everyone expected to see him in the third-place playoff against France he did not make the bench. The Football Association said before the game he had picked up an unspecified injury.
For Mainoo it was a lost summer and yet it was physically and mentally draining all the same, what with the training and travel; the demand to stay focused as he waited and waited. .
Team news
United are without Luke Shaw, who has an unspecified injury, so Patrick Dorgu starts at left-back. So much for Michael Carrick repeating his tactics from the win over City in January; on that day Dorgu started as the left-sided attacker and scored the second goal. Dorgu for Shaw is the only change from United’s last Premier League game, the 2-2 draw with Everton a week ago.
Enzo Maresca makes two changes from Manchester City’s win over Coventry last weekend. Matheus Nunes replaces Abdukodir Khusanov at right-back; Phil Foden is preferred to Iliman Ndiaye in attack, which may mean a switch from right to left for Antoine Semenyo. The usual left-winger, Jeremy Doku, is still out with a calf injury.
Man Utd (4-2-3-1) Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Dorgu; Tielemans, Mainoo; Mbeumo, B Fernandes, Rashford; Cunha.
Subs: Andrey Santos, Darlow, Heaven, Lacey, Mazraoui, Mount, Sesko, Yoro, Zirkzee.
Man City (4-2-3-1) Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Guehi, Gvardiol; Anderson, Fernandez; Foden, Cherki, Semenyo; Haaland
Subs: Rulli, Ndiaye, Kovacic, Reis, Bouaddi, O’Reilly, Allan, Khusanov, Lewis.
Referee Michael Oliver.
Will Unwin
Manchester City have enjoyed a perfect start to the season without ever looking fully convincing in their victories. There are certainly more positives than negatives as Enzo Maresca learns more and more about his team. Against Porto they were sloppy for far too long and the midfield continues to look open, so a statement performance against their fiercest rivals would be ideal. The quality to rip open a team that has conceded two in each of their three Premier League outings thus far is there, and if it all finally clicks, then it could be a fine day for City.
Michael Carrick is in a not dissimilar position but only has four points to show for United’s indifferent efforts. There is always an underlying pressure for any Manchester United and he faces difficult league games today and next weekend at Fulham before an elongated international break. He can’t afford two defeats because there will be a long silence that will be filled with think pieces on the club because it is impossible to escape the noise at this club.
Jamie Jackson
Manchester United’s nine victories from 10 Premier League games at Old Trafford in 2026 cast their stadium as a fortress Manchester City aim to ransack on Sunday, to join Leeds in departing with three points during this calendar year.
Michael Carrick has overseen the division’s highest home points-per-game return in that span: 2.7, ahead of Arsenal’s 2.27 (from 12 matches) and Manchester City’s 2.25 (11); and his side have scored the most goals: 26, to City’s 23, and the champions’ 20.
A United fan group, the 1958, has called for a “peaceful protest” before kick-off, starting at a pub near the stadium, against what it believes is disproportionate action in the club’s drive to eradicate ticket touting. United said on Friday that 685 accounts had been subject to a ban and 464 supporters had received a reduced sanction or final warning.
Preamble
Can you have a must-win game in September? How about a mustn’t-lose match? This Manchester derby feels close to the latter for United, who have made a false start to Michael Carrick’s first season as full-time manager and already trail City by five points.
It’s not all doom and gloom for United. They’ve scored nine goals in two home games, and their form at Old Trafford since Carrick took over has been terrific. They’ve won 10 out of 11, including a rousing 2-0 demolition of City in his first match back in January. United counter-attacked to devastating effect in that game; a degree in rocket science is not required to work out Carrick’s tactics today.
City have recovered well after being battered by Arsenal in the Community Shield. You can’t ask for more than three league wins from three, even if the fixtures have been relatively kind. For both sides, this should be a useful health check.
Kick off 4.30pm.
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