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Man City v Man United
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Kick Off: Saturday 10th August at 15:00
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Competition: FA Community Shield
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Watch Live: ITV1
Wembley Stadium will host its third Manchester Derby in a little over a year on Saturday when City and United meet in London to contest the English campaign’s traditional curtain raiser, the Community Shield.
Just three months ago, United defied the odds and cast aside the considerable pre-match pessimism to pip City to the FA Cup, denying their rivals a domestic double in the process, though Saturday’s clash offers the Premier League champions a chance to exact some revenge.
City have been involved in five of the last six Community Shields, however, they were beaten in each of the last three iterations of the showpiece fixture and another loss this weekend would see them match an unwanted record set by United, who lost four editions in a row between 1998 and 2001.
Pep Guardiola’s outfit have been priced as 8/15 favourites to stop the rot in the capital on Saturday and City look well-positioned to put an early-season marker down at their neighbour’s expense.
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Community Shield coverage isn’t the only thing on offer this week, with a constant supply of expertly researched both teams to score tips, card betting tips, and player shots on target tips, we’ll be sure to keep you busy.
Given the consistently heated nature of a Manchester Derby and key players check our man city v man united bet builder tips.
Man City v Man United Best Bets
➡️ Both teams to score @ 1.50 with Betfair
➡️ Manchester City to win 6+ corners @ 1.44 with Betfair
➡️ Alejandro Garnacho to have 1+ shot on target @ 2.10 with Betfair
With City’s record of three successive Community Shield defeats a sticking point and personnel issues clouding the picture in both camps, it might be best to avoid the match result markets this weekend, however, backing both teams to score could be your trump card at odds of 1.50.
The Manchester Derby has produced goals at both ends in six of its last seven iterations and City and United looked vulnerable enough defensively in pre-season to suggest chances could be manufactured at both ends again in the Community Shield.
City and United managed to keep just one clean sheet between them in ten fixtures combined over the summer, so back both backlines to be breached again at Wembley.
Elsewhere, it could be worth giving the nod to City to win 6 or more corners at a price of 1.44. As we detailed above, the Cityzens routinely dominate their meetings with United in terms of territory and they finished the FA Cup Final with 74% possession and seven corners.
The last six Manchester Derbies overall have delivered an average of 7.33 corners per game in City’s direction and they should spend enough time in the final third to win five or more corners again on Saturday.
For a meatier price, Alejandro Garnacho could be one to consider at 2.10 to register 1+ shots on target. The fleet-footed Argentinean winger was a real menace on the right flank in the cup final, getting all three of his efforts on target and scoring the contest’s crucial opening goal.
The left half of City’s four-man defence, where Josko Gvardiol usually operates, lacks speed and Garnacho’s running power can cause problems like it did at Wembley in May.
📂 Man City v Man United Cheat Sheet
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📊 Man City Form and Stats
It hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for City in pre-season and shorn of the services of several senior players, they lost two and drew one friendly against Celtic (3-4), AC Milan (2-3) and Barcelona (2-2) in July before rebounding with a final flourish against Chelsea (4-2).
Generally, results between campaigns aren’t worth sweating over, however, conceding 11 goals in four matches is a cause for concern and City struggled to plug gaps at the back without the experience of John Stones, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Kyle Walker and Manuel Akanji.
Those big-hitting defensive options, along with City’s other Euro 2024 stars like Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne, and Bernardo Silva all returned to training this week, however, it remains to be seen how much action any of them will see on Saturday with Pep Guardiola keen to ease them back into the fold.
Youngsters Oscar Bobb, Nico O’Reilly, and James McAtee all impressed on City’s summer tour of the USA and all three will be hoping to feature in some capacity against United.
Key holding midfielder Rodri, who lost his 74-club match unbeaten record with City in May’s FA Cup Final, is set to miss out this weekend due to the injury he picked up in the final of Euro 2024, however.
Erling Haaland warmed up for the Community Shield by netting a hattrick inside 56 minutes against a calamitous Chelsea in Ohio in City’s last US friendly. The Norwegian goal machine had good chemistry with McAtee, Bobb and Jack Grealish throughout in Columbus and it wouldn’t be overly surprising to see that quartet named in City’s XI again this weekend.
📊 Man United Form and Stats
The summer of 2024 has been one of considerable change at United, however, most of the new faces have been drafted in off the pitch so far, and Erik ten Hag will pick from a very familiar pool of players on Saturday.
United were beaten in three of their five summer friendlies with their 3-0 reverse to Liverpool in South Carolina particularly galling, though there were signs of a new high-pressing gameplan developing on that occasion and United actually outperformed the Merseysides for shots (18-9) and shots on target (8-5) on an evening of missed opportunities.
There is every chance Ten Hag will revert to the counter-attacking style that reaped such big dividends in the FA Cup Final when United play City in the Community Shield, however.
Like Guardiola, ten Hag must decide on how best to use the players who have returned to training this week following extended post-Euro 2024 and Copa America breaks. Skipper Bruno Fernandes, Lisandro Martinez Luke Shaw, Diogo Dalot and FA Cup final heroes Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo fall under that category.
Injuries to new signing Leny Yoro and to Danish striker Rasmus Hojlund were severe blows to United’s preparations and with Joshua Zirkzee highly unlikely to start for the first time, ten Hag is expected to deploy Bruno Fernandes or Jadon Sancho as a false nine against City.
It will be interesting to see how Ten Hag goes about solving the crippling defensive issues that plagued United’s campaign in 2023/24. Only bottom club Sheffield United (671) conceded more shots than the Mancunians (660) in the Premier League last term, while United also ranked as the fifth-worst team in the division for xGA (68.9).
Tactical input from new coaches Ruud van Nistelrooy and Rene Hake could help in that regard, however, the failure to strengthen the number six position in midfield continues to look like a major oversight and with the leggy Casemiro still manning that space, City could have plenty of space to exploit.
⚔️ Man City v Man United Head-to-Head
Last season, Manchester City pocketed six Premier League points from their two encounters with United and put three goals past their local antagonists at the Etihad Stadium (3-1) and at Old Trafford (3-0).
Indeed, City came out on top in six out of seven Manchester Derbies before May’s FA Cup Final while running up an aggregate score of 21-8, making their defeat at Wembley all the more remarkable.
Pep Guardiola’s Cityzens had clocked 7.30 in xGF combined across their home and away fixtures against United in the Premier League in 2023/24, however, Erik ten Hag did a tactical number on his counterpart at Wembley when he deployed Bruno Fernandes and Scott McTominay as the players positioned furthest forward in an unorthodox 4-2-2-2 formation.
The switch in shape worked wonders for United and despite controlling 74.3% possession in the first half, City had just one shot on target, lost the xGF battle (0.15 to 1.37) and headed into the interval two goals down.
United’s unexpected victory at Wembley helped Erik ten Hag to avoid a summer sacking and it also provided him with only his second triumph over Pep Guardiola in six attempts since the Dutchman’s arrival from Ajax in 2002 (2-0-4).
City averaged 65.5% possession and 7.33 corners per 90 minutes across those six meetings with Ten Hag’s United and Guardiola will expect his troops to dominate most metrics again on Saturday.
In terms of individual performers, Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford are usually the ones to track closely on derby day. That trio have scored six career goals each in Manchester Derbies and all three are on the cusp of entering the top ten all-time goal-scorers list for the fixture.
* We recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.
* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.
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