Threat to Man United
Erling Haaland is becoming the biggest threat to Manchester United. In 7 encounters with the "Red Devils" in the Premier League, the Norwegian striker has scored 8 goals.
Haaland also often explodes in the early stages of the season. August and September are the two months he scored the most goals in the Premier League, 24 and 16 goals respectively. The Man City striker is entering the derby with high form when scoring in all 3 recent matches in all competitions.
The rare positive point for Man United is that Haaland has only scored 2 goals at Old Trafford in the Premier League. However, he has only made 3 appearances here. If Man United's defense can limit Haaland's influence, the home team's chances of winning points will increase significantly.
Kobbie Mainoo vs Elliot Anderson
In the midfield area, the confrontation between Kobbie Mainoo and Elliot Anderson is also very anticipated. Both are promising young midfielders of the England team but are going in two different directions.
Anderson just had a memorable summer when he contributed to helping England win third place at the 2026 World Cup, before moving to Man City for a large fee. Meanwhile, Mainoo did not play a minute in the tournament in North America, a decision that made many Man United fans confused.
However, Mainoo is having an impressive start to the new season. The Man United midfielder is increasingly strong in tackles, difficult for the opponent to take the ball and operates widely in midfield. The 68.2% win rate in tackles helps him rank sixth among midfielders playing more than 90 minutes this season, while 10.1 times recovering the ball every 90 minutes put Mainoo in second place.
In the match against Sabah in the Champions League, Mainoo had 93 touches, made 83 passes and achieved 81 accurate passes, all of which were the highest numbers in the team before leaving the field in the 64th minute.
Anderson also quickly proved his value at Man City after being brought in to replace Rodri. This midfielder has an average of 121.4 passes and 19.5 forward passes per 90 minutes, and leads in the number of breakthrough passes with 76 times.
Bruno Fernandes and Rayan Cherki: Who will have a greater influence?
If Mainoo and Anderson can make a difference in midfield, Bruno Fernandes and Rayan Cherki are players who are capable of deciding the match with creativity.
Fernandes and Cherki are two of the most outstanding creative players in the Premier League last season. Cherki even surpassed Fernandes in expected assists per 90 minutes, with 0.44 compared to 0.36.
This season, Cherki continues to have an impressive start. He has an average of 5.1 chances created every 90 minutes and achieves 0.69 xA, the highest in the league in the group of players who have played at least 90 minutes. The French player has 2 assists and 2 goals, including a double against Crystal Palace.
Fernandes has not created as much influence as last season in terms of assist ability, partly because Man United is no longer too dependent on him in organizing the play. Youri Tielemans and Mainoo are taking on more connecting tasks in midfield.
However, Fernandes is still a dangerous threat. He is averaging 5 shots per 90 minutes in the Premier League, double the 2.5 of last season, and has scored 4 goals in all competitions. The match against Ipswich, where Fernandes scored a hat-trick and had an assist, shows that the Portuguese midfielder can still make a difference at any time.
