Premier League: Derby Day Begins New Chapter for Manager and Player

Manchester United vs Manchester City

The 198^th Manchester Derby and, not for the first time, the pre-match narrative has been written before a ball is kicked. This time it’s the appointment of a new manager who will oversee the hosts until the end of the season.

You can guarantee all the focus before kick-off will be on Michael Carrick, who has come back to the club he graced for 12 years as a player to guide the 2026 version through the second half of the Premier League campaign.

It’s been widely documented that the Ruben Amorim chapter is best forgotten – it was never going to work in the view of this SBOTOP scribe – and that even his most ardent supporters could not dispute that, with a shocking win ratio and tactical rigidity, he had no one to blame but himself.

While the decision to appoint the Portuguese plunged the club to new depths, the decision makers who hired him and fired him are just as culpable and, now they’ve finally acted, cannot afford to get the next permanent appointment wrong.

And so a new chapter begins, with both clubs in need of Premier League 2026 highlights.

 

Talking Points

United, sitting in seventh place in a heavily congested table, welcome a City side who have slipped six points behind the leaders Arsenal in the table. It remains the case though that they are the only side probably capable of pushing the Gunners close this term.

They have already strengthened this month with the arrival of Antoine Semenyo from Bournemouth, and the Ghanaian has impressed with two goals in as many games. Now for his first league encounter for his new club, fresh from fine showings against Exeter (FA Cup) and Newcastle (League Cup).

The 26-year-old certainly adds a different dimension to City’s attack, describing himself as “powerful, quick, and strong”, as well as “clinical” – an attribute which could prove to be a vital factor and take some of the burden of his new teammate Erling Haaland.

Playing as a wide man mostly from the right, Semenyo’s proficiency in front of goal for Bournemouth has him on 10 Premier League goals so far this season, sitting third on the top-flight scoring charts behind only Haaland and Brentford’s Igor Thiago.

So far this season, City have been far more fortunate with injuries than last season – certainly by comparison to Arsenal, who, at the time of writing, have used eight central defensive partnerships amid enforced absences.

That all changed 10 days ago when they experienced defensive woes of their own during the second half of their New Year’s clash with Chelsea.

It was an encounter in which they quickly lost both Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias (to an already missing John Stones) and a two-point gap from the summit became six points in the space of just four days. They cannot afford for that to increase any further.

The home side know all about defensive absentees in recent months. Matthijs de Ligt has been out since December 1, while Harry Maguire hasn’t played in the league since early November, although he did come off the bench for a brief return in Sunday’s FA Cup defeat at home to Brighton.

Absences aside, a derby is always a big occasion, and Saturday lunchtime is certainly quite the way to start for both Carrick and Semenyo.

 

History

This fixture last term ended goalless – a time when United were putting all their eggs in the Europa League basket and when City’s priority was the FA Cup.

The earlier meeting had ended in dramatic fashion as Bruno Fernandes (penalty) and Diallo sealed a famous late victory for United, who trailed to a first-half Gvardiol header until two minutes from time.

City won the meeting earlier this season when Haaland scored twice in a match in which City were easy winners without even playing well.

Overall, United have 80 victories to City’s 63 with a further 54 draws.

The inaugural meeting came in October 1891 when City (then named Ardwick) were beaten 5-1 by United in what was then the lowly first qualifying round of the FA Cup (they contested the 2023 and 2024 finals).

Their scorers that day were Alfred Farman (two), Roger Doughty, Alfred Edge, and John Sneddon.

 

Betting Tip

So, how about another goalless draw, just like the fixture last season?

City may be big favourites, priced 1X2 @ 1.96 and Asian Handicap -0.75 @ 2.29, but another stalemate will earn you a very tidy payday as Correct Score 0-0 will pay out @ 19.00.

Or how about a winning start for a Carrick-inspired hosts with our Premier League 2026 betting odds, either through 1X2 @ 3.23 or Asian Handicap +0.25 @ 2.21. The draw is an attractive option @ 3.56, and goal bets range from Total Goal 0-1 @ 4.68 to 4-6 @ 2.54 and Over 3.50 @ 2.31. However, I am going to be a bit more conservative and opt for aprediction of Total Goal 2-3 @ 2.17.

   

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