Manchester United travel to Manchester City's Etihad Stadium to restart their Premier League campaign after two consecutive defeats.
Coach Ruben Amorim lifted his players in midweek with a 2-1 win over Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League. However, the hard-fought victory showed that the "Red Devils" still have a long way to go.
At this point, Man United will hope to sink Man City deeper into crisis. The Citizens are going through a bad run of form with 7 losses in the last 10 matches.
Amorim is expected to make a number of changes to the team that beat Plzen. The Portuguese tactician will continue to rotate his squad after making five changes for the Europa League game.
However, Amorim may still keep the same defensive trio of Noussair Mazraoui, Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez. Meanwhile, Andre Onana will still be the starting goalkeeper.
In midfield, Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes took centre stage against Plzen, but Manuel Ugarte and Kobbie Mainoo - who started the 3-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest - are likely to return.
Amad Diallo could return to full-back after playing up front in midweek, while Diogo Dalot continues to play on the opposite flank.
Fernandes is likely to play further forward and join Alejandro Garnacho in attack, while Rasmus Hojlund will earn a starting spot after his double against Plzen, despite Marcus Rashford's goalscoring exploits at the Etihad.
United are 13th in the Premier League and desperate for points. They could not have been more excited to face a City side lacking confidence after a 2-0 defeat to Juventus in the Champions League. But Amorim insists United are focused on their own problems after picking up just 19 points from 15 games.
"I never think about these things. We are facing a big opponent and I am more focused on our problems. So we have a lot of problems here. I am more focused on what we should do on Sunday to win this match," Amorim said.
Man United's expected lineup against Man City: Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Martinez, Dalot, Ugarte, Mainoo, Amad, Fernandes, Garnacho, Hojlund.
The match between Man City and Man United takes place at 11:30 p.m. on December 15 (Vietnam time).
