Man Utd vs Man City: Betting preview with odds and prediction

Manchester United play host to rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford on Saturday lunchtime in the stand-out Premier League fixture this weekend.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer appeared to ease the pressure on his shoulders with an impressive 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in north London last weekend which came off the back of consecutive Premier League defeats to Leicester City and Liverpool.

However, pundits were critical of the Norwegian coach once again on Tuesday night after Man Utd needed a late Cristiano Ronaldo goal to salvage a fortunate 2-2 draw at Atalanta in the group stages of the Champions League.

All eyes are now on Solskjaer to see if he can get a positive result this weekend against a formidable Manchester City side – who’ve done well in their recent travels to Old Trafford.

Pep Guardiola’s men head into the weekend sitting third in the table – three points ahead of fifth-placed United – following their shock defeat to Crystal Palace last weekend so City will be desperate to get back on track with a win in the Manchester derby.

Man City favourites

This is one of the most exciting games of the season so there is going to be a huge amount of interest in the betting markets. Betting sites will be battling for custom and bettingsitesoffers.com are reporting that several bookies are offering odds boosts on the match to try and entice bettors in so it’s worth looking around for the best odds.

Currently, Manchester City are the 4/6 favourites with most bookmakers to win the game on Saturday. Manchester United are priced at 15/4 to claim all three points on home soil while the draw can be backed at 29/10.

Solskjaer will be hoping for a response from his players but they’re set to be without Raphael Varane after he picked up a knock on Tuesday night and City will be confident of causing their defence plenty of problems.

A 2-1 Man City win looks good value at odds of 7/1 and if we add Raheem Sterling as the first goalscorer the odds increase to a whopping 46/1.

Team news

As stated above, Varane looks set to miss out this weekend after limping off with a hamstring injury during United’s draw at Atalanta on Tuesday night so his absence will be a big miss for the hosts.

Victor Lindelof will need a fitness test after missing the trip to Italy with a knock so Eric Bailly is on stand-by to start alongside Harry Maguire in the Man Utd defence.

Paul Pogba is suspended after being sent off against Liverpool last month but Fred is expected to be recalled in midfield.

As for Man City, Aymeric Laporte will start his three-match ban following his dismissal against Palace while Ferran Torres is out with an ankle injury.

Prediction

Manchester United need to try and build on the win over Tottenham to get themselves back in the title race but Varane will be a big miss in defence and that could end up being the deciding factor here.

City have goals throughout the team and if Kevin de Bruyne is on top form, it’s hard to see United stopping Guardiola’s side. I’m backing a narrow Man City win at Old Trafford. Man Utd 1-2 Man City