Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Manchester City will be without captain Vincent Kompany, who suffered a recurrence of a calf injury against Dynamo Kiev in midweek.
Fellow defender Nicolas Otamendi, who picked up a dead leg in that game, will be assessed ahead of Saturday’s match.
United’s Ander Herrera is a doubt with a groin problem that forced him to miss the Europa League clash with Liverpool.
Ashley Young and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson have both returned to training after injury and could feature.
Editor’s Note: These two sides had mixed fortunes in Europe during Midweek, for Manchester City it’s the Quarter Finals of the Champions League while for Manchester United it’s the ignominy of being knocked out by local rivals Liverpool in the Europa League.
City will no doubt be delighted that they’ve reached their first Champions League Quarter Final but their progression has come at a huge cost with an injury to Vincent Kompany who after a recurrence of his calf injury will be out for at least a month.
That injury has all but killed off any hopes that City may have had of winning a 3rd title in 5 seasons and now they have to make sure that they are in Europe’s top tier competition next season for when incoming Manager Pep Guardiola takes over.
They will have no doubt breathed a sigh of relief that West Ham were thanks to a controversial penalty held to just a draw at Stamford Bridge Yesterday as a win for The Hammers would have seen them go 4th for at least 24 hours
Last time out they lost more ground on the title race after a bore draw against Norwich at Carrow Road in what must be said was one of the most dreary games anyone has had the misfortune of having to watch this season.
City currently hold a 4 point advantage over their cross city rivals and defeat for United would all but kill off their hopes of Champions League Football for next season and again undoubtedly put more pressure on Louis Van Gaal
The month of March hasn’t been a good one for United as they failed to win a game so far. They’ve seen League defeat away to West Brom, held to a draw against West Ham in the F.A. Cup and knocked out of the Europa League by Liverpool.
Their offering in the 2nd leg of their Europa League tie on Thursday was certainly better than the 1st but that is simply because their performance at Anfield was so bad. They came out of the blocks much quicker in midweek but ultimately had left themselves too much to do in terms of progressing to the Quarters.
United’s season isn’t quite over yet as they still are in the F.A. Cup but this is probably the last chance saloon for their league campaign. Can they take advantage of a City side without Vincent Kompany, it’s apparent that City aren’t as strong without their Captain but have United got the players to make the most of it.
On current form you’d say probably not but a local derby can always get that little bit more out of players. It’s City leaky at the back with United flattering to deceive, I reckon with United not being able to lose this one they will go for a more safety first approach. I wouldn’t be too surprised if this one ends in a Draw
