Man Utd vs Man City Preview, Team News, Likely Line-Ups, Prediction & Betting Tips

Manchester United will be looking to continue their recent good form when they take on bitter rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon.

United head into the game off the back of an excellent run that’s seen them win their last five league games so they should be confident of avoiding a fifth straight derby defeat at the hands of City.

The latest win on the Red Devils impressive run came with a 3-1 victory over Aston Villa last Saturday which saw them climb above City into third spot in the table after Manuel Pellegrini’s side lost 2-1 at Crystal Palace on Monday night.

That result all-but ends City’s hopes of defending their Premier League title so the battle it now on for second, third and fourth spots and with Arsenal opening up a four point gap in second, it’s over to the two Manchester club to keep pace.

Team News

United will have to once again make-do without striker Robin van Persie. The Dutchman returned to full training on Wednesday but Louis van Gaal doesn’t think he’s match-fit just yet.

Defender Jonny Evans is still suspended but Chris Smalling should return from illness. Luke Shaw is expected to miss out again with a hamstring problem so Daley Blind should continue at left-back.

City skipper Vincent Kompany is a major doubt with a hamstring injury that he picked up at Selhurst Park last week so Mangala is on stand-by to step in.

Striker Wilfried Bony is out with an ankle problem so he joins Stevan Jovetic and Dedryck Boyata on the sidelines.

Likely Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Man Utd 2-1 Man City: The defending champions have lost their way in recent weeks while United look a different side with Wayne Rooney playing up front and the likes of Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini offering support. These games are usually entertaining and I can see United edging it by the odd goal.

Betting Tips

United are the narrow 8/5 favourites to win the game but we can get you enhanced odds of 7/1 on either a home or away victory while you can also get money back if you lose and up to £100 in free bets. Our prediction of a 2-1 home win is on offer at 17/2 while I also fancy Wayne Rooney to open the scoring at odds of 6/1, and if we combine those two bets in a scorecast then we get very tempting odds of 30/1. Surely that’s got to be worth a couple of quid!?

BACK MAN UTD TO WIN AT 7/1 + MONEY BACK IF YOU LOSE & £100 FREE BETS

What do you think? What line-up would you like to see start?