Manchester United will be looking at making a return to winning ways when they face Manchester City in the Premier League at Old Trafford on Saturday evening.
The Reds go into the game on the back of a bitterly disappointing 3-2 defeat to RB Leipzig in Germany which seen United exit the UEFA Champions League whilst the visitors ran out 3-0 winners over Marseille.
Duo Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani are expected to make a return to the squad to face Manchester City having missed the loss against RB Leipzig during the week, whilst for the visitors Sergio Aguero could be in line for a return to the starting eleven having missed the majority of the season thus far with a knee injury.
Exiting the Champions League on Wednesday night was a bitter pill to swallow for Manchester United. Having won the opening three games out of four United had put themselves in a fantastic position to qualify from the group and progress to the last 16 and to lose the last two games of the group in the manner which they did was incredibly disappointing.
The prospect of Europa League football in the new year isn’t something that the Manchester United faithful will be looking forward to and its essential Solskjaer gets the fans back on side and gets United back to winning ways starting with the Manchester derby at Old Trafford this Saturday.
Manchester City don’t look the same side this season. Having flourished under Pep Guardiola in recent seasons City look a shadow of their former selves and are there to got at. Having already beat City 2-0 earlier in the year Solskjaer knows what it takes to beat City and should United turn up and play to their potential then we should take all three points.
Beating Manchester City won’t make the pain of exiting the Champions League feel any easier nor will it make up for what happened but it will get United to within touching distance of the top of the Premier League table and given how inconsistent United have been this season that is some achievement. By hook or by crook United actually look like they stand a real chance of putting up a genuine challenge for Premier League title this season and given the reds haven’t been involved in a title challenge since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson been in the mix for the title is still something to look forward to in the new year.
