We analyse Sunday’s encounter between Man City and Man Utd and discuss who can build on a slow start to 2025/26

Football writer Ben Bloom assesses how a win in the Manchester derby on Sunday for either Manchester City or Manchester United could kickstart their season.

Manchester has not been a particularly happy footballing place to be so far this 2025/26 season.

Between them, Manchester United and Manchester City have mustered only two wins from their opening six Premier League matches, with United suffering the additional disappointment of an EFL Cup exit at the hands of League Two Grimsby Town.

Yet if Ruben Amorim is supposedly the head coach under pressure, it is telling that his side currently sit one point above Man City.

The two managers can at least relate over the shared issues of attempting to integrate high-profile new faces, while undergoing major rebuilding exercises and determining who should play in goal.

Now, they return to domestic duties following the international break with a showdown at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. So, can either of them use the local derby to put their slow starts behind them?

A double rebuild

Most telling in City’s struggles so far has been the absence of their previously impenetrable aura.

Over a seven-year period prior to last season, Pep Guardiola’s side claimed an astonishing six Premier League titles. So often, when teams lined up against them, a fear factor understandably overwhelmed the opposition before a whistle had even been blown.

Yet in defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton & Hove Albion in the early weeks of the current campaign, the bullish approach of their opponents has turned Man City remarkably human; they are now a football team like all others.

Guardiola was quick to attribute much of their travails last season to the absence of Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, who missed the bulk of the campaign with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Having never lost a Premier League match that he had started, the Spaniard’s 49-match unbeaten streak ended in the Brighton defeat.

There were plenty of positive signs in his first start for 11 months, with Rodri making more touches, completing more passes and recovering more possession in the opening half than any other City player.

But, ultimately they were beaten, leaving them in an ominous position. This is the first time since 2004/05 that City have lost two of their first three Premier League matches in a season. On that occasion, they ended the campaign eighth in the table.

Indeed, only one team has ever lost two of their opening three matches and recovered to win the title: Man Utd in 1992/93.

Just three sides have even recovered sufficiently to finish second (Newcastle United in 1996/97, Liverpool in 2001/02, Man Utd in 2020/21).

More encouragingly, City did win the title under Guardiola in 2020/21 having picked up just four points from their opening three fixtures.

Man Utd have rather lower ambitions as they look to rebuild from last season’s disastrous campaign and no title win for 12 years.

Yet Amorim’s record is indifferent. In 30 Premier League matches under his watch, United have won just eight.

Perhaps of more concern, exactly 50 per cent of those triumphs have come against newly promoted opposition – and it required a 98th-minute penalty to see off Burnley before the international break.

The Man Utd head coach has stuck resolutely to his preferred 3-4-3 system, repeatedly deflecting criticism by insisting “it’s not about the formation”.

Expect the same set-up at the Etihad Stadium, where Amorim will hope it yields rather more positive results.

Integrating new faces

With both clubs busy in the summer transfer window, Guardiola and Amorim have had the dual joy of welcoming significant reinforcements to their ranks, while grappling with how to integrate them.

City’s high turnover has seen the departure of vast experience from the dressing room in the form of Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish, Ederson, Manuel Akanji and Ilkay Gundogan.

In their place has arrived a younger cohort, with Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki, Gianluigi Donnarumma and James Trafford all joining – a shift that will doubtless take time to generate full cohesion.

United have actually out-spent their nearest rivals, with attacking trio Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko and Matheus Cunha all reportedly costing in excess of £60million.

Amorim’s side managed a mere 44 Premier League goals last campaign – a tally exceeded by only one non-relegated club. Antony, Alejandro Garnacho, Marcus Rashford, Rasmus Hojlund and Jadon Sancho have all paid the price by departing.

With their proven track record in England’s top division, Mbeumo and Cunha have provided two of the brighter sparks in their early Man Utd appearances, but Sesko has notably not started a Premier League game and was the 10th penalty taker in the unsuccessful shootout against Grimsby.

Amorim explained that decision was due to the Slovenian suffering cramps, while he put the lack of Premier League action down to a shortage of pre-season minutes.

How he must look on with envy at the corresponding position in City’s team.

Even during what was something of a disappointing year, Erling Haaland scored 22 times in the league last campaign, while he celebrated his 100th Premier League appearance with his 88th goal in City’s defeat at Brighton – nine more than Alan Shearer managed in his first 100 matches and 20 above any other player.

Most goals after 100 PL apps

Player Matches Goals

Erling Haaland 100 88

Alan Shearer 100 79

Ruud Van Nistelrooy 100 68

Sergio Aguero 100 64

Mohamed Salah 100 63

Fernando Torres 100 63

Andrew Cole 100 63

All change in goal

There is also bound to be great intrigue at the other end of the pitch, after both clubs opted to bring in new goalkeepers on the final day of the transfer window.

In seven matches between them so far this season, City and United have kept a combined one clean sheet.

Guardiola chose to bid farewell to perhaps the most technically gifted goalkeeper in Premier League history when he sanctioned Ederson’s Deadline Day move to Fenerbahce.

The Brazilian won six Premier League titles at City, making him the most decorated ‘keeper in the competition’s history.

He had found himself benched in favour of Trafford this season, but the former Burnley goalkeeper will now likely be second choice given the arrival of one of the world’s best in Donnarumma.

The Italian has a wealth of experience at 26, but it will be fascinating to see how City deal with a totally different type of goalkeeper and whether he can adapt to Guardiola’s preferred style of play from his No 1.

Where Ederson was a revelation with his ball-playing ability – earning four Premier League assists last season alone – his replacement is a man mountain, widely considered the best shot-stopper of the current generation.

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It was Donnarumma’s lack of prowess with the ball at feet that ultimately cost him the goalkeeper’s slot at UEFA Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain though, so it will be Interesting to see how he copes with Guardiola’s demands to be brave on the ball and effectively serve as an additional outfielder when in possession.

There could also be a new face in the Man Utd net, with the club reacting to the underwhelming performances of Andre Onana and Altay Bayindir by signing Senne Lammens from Antwerp.

The Belgian can point to a number of notable statistics as a reflection of his ability, ranking top among goalkeepers for total saves made in Europe’s leading 10 leagues last season, while he was second for goals prevented (based on those he conceded compared to Expected Goals).

However, at 23, Lammens has experienced just one season as a first-choice goalkeeper, raising questions of whether Amorim will throw him straight into the firing line or wait to ease him in over time.

A Manchester derby away to their local rivals would provide quite the baptism of fire.

Amorim’s unlikely derby record

For all that City have been the undisputed dominant half of Manchester over the past decade, the head-to-head between the two clubs paints a rather different story.

Since Guardiola took charge in 2016, City have emerged victorious from the Manchester derby in the Premier League on nine occasions and United six, with three draws.

Indeed, Amorim is yet to experience defeat in the derby, guiding Man Utd to a 2-1 win at City last season, before a goalless draw at home. Those results came in stark contrast to the club’s 15th-place finish.

Another positive result on Sunday would be a huge boost for United ahead of Chelsea’s visit to Old Trafford next weekend, while City’s upcoming encounters see a return to UEFA Champions League action against a Napoli side featuring De Bruyne and Hojlund, and then a trip to Arsenal.

This is the start of a huge week for both clubs. (premierleague.com, excluding headline)

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