Tomorrow sees Manchester City and Manchester United raise the curtain on the 2024/25 season at Wembley Stadium.
Erik ten Hag’s side head into the game leaving behind them a mixed pre-season campaign, losing three and winning two games.
The FA Cup champions have a worrying injury list with just three senior defenders fit for the derby.
Jonny Evans, Lisandro Martinez and Diogo Dalot are the only defenders deemed fit by the manager. Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw are all under continuous assessment and may miss out on the Wembley showdown.
New signings Leny Yoro and Rasmus Hojlund have already been ruled out due to injuries they both sustained in the 2-1 defeat to Arsenal just under two weeks ago. Yoro has since undergone surgery on his foot and is in line to return in three months.
There is hope that the fans of the red side of Manchester will get a first glimpse of new signing Joshua Zirkzee. The Dutch striker signed from Bologna for a fee of £36.5 million. He did not travel to the United States for the Reds’ pre-season campaign and instead, carried out his preparations at Carrington since July 29th.
United’s pre-season results had seen some knives come out early for Erik ten Hag – including defeats to Arsenal and Liverpool – and pressure is sure to be added if Pep Guardiola’s side brush them away with ease. After the delay in Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS’ decision on whether to keep the Dutchman or not after the famous FA Cup success in May, his performances as boss could be heavily scrutinised early doors.
Despite losses to two Premier League sides, this side has had a lot of positives throughout the summer. Toby Collyer and Harry Amass are just two academy graduates who could receive crucial playing time in the season to come. Amad Diallo is continuously showing that he does not want to be sidelined and instead wants to cement a place in the starting eleven.
An early confidence boost to the squad will be pivotal as they then head into the Premier League opener just six days later when they play host to Fulham under the lights.
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