Manchester derby insights: SN's United and City staff go head-to-head on Haaland vs. Fernandes and more

This Sunday sees the 199th Manchester derby take place at Old Trafford.

Manchester United and Manchester City will meet in a match that might give some indication as to each side's progress in respective new eras.

This will be the first showdown between these city rivals since Michael Carrick became permanent United boss and Enzo Maresca replaced Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium. With each team finding its way under the new man in charge and with a host of new signings to bed in, this game will be a good indication of how these sides are developing — and whether success could follow this season.

All in all, this feels like a hard game to predict, so we've tasked two members of Sporting News staff — who just happen to support United and City — to give their insight. See if you agree with their thoughts and predictions...

MORE: All-time Manchester derby head to head — who is on top?

What SN's United and City staff think about this weekend's derby

Sum up the Manchester derby in three words...

Joe Wright (Senior Editor, United fan): Not this again.

Dom Farrell (Senior Content Producer, City fan): Mad for it.

Michael Carrick and Enzo Maresca are still relatively new in their posts. How are things shaping up?

JW: A lot of United fans are probably looking at this derby as a way of measuring progress under Carrick, because it's otherwise not that easy to conclude anything.

There is no doubt United are producing far better passages of play during games than they have in recent times, probably since Erik ten Hag's encouraging first season in 2022-23. There is a discernible pattern of trying to build through midfield rather than bypass it, which is why Kobbie Mainoo and Youri Tielemans have been getting some plaudits. Some of the one-touch attacking play has been a joy to watch, and it's actually leading to quite a regular pattern of the ball ending up in the net.

But.

The loss to Hull City and the draw at Everton were concerning. In each game, there was a real feeling of vulnerability at the back — much has been made of United choosing not to reinforce the defence this summer, which was understandable but perhaps misguided — but the real concern, as we've written about, was a worrying lack of intensity about their play. That was the best part of United's 2-0 win over City in January to kick-start Carrick's interim reign, and it's something he'll need his players to replicate on Sunday, or some of the questions about his long-term future will get louder.

DF: A fair few City fans reached for the panic button after the 3-0 Community Shield defeat to Arsenal last month, when Maresca's team were undercooked and wretched. Since the real stuff got underway, though, it's hard to fault them. The 4-1 win at Crystal Palace was a genuinely brilliant performance, sprinkled with Rayan Cherki magic. That came after they'd held their nerve to overhaul Bournemouth late on the opening weekend, while pleasingly dogged battling qualities were in evidence during the wins over Coventry City and Porto. It was hard to call the Coventry performance good in any conventional sense, but at Estadio do Dragao, City produced arguably their most complete away Champions League display since winning the competition in 2023. 

As they always were under Guardiola, there remains a vulnerability in transition, and United are as good as anyone in the league on the counter-attack. Marc Guehi's superb early-season form should measure up to that challenge, and Maresca will want to count on Gianluigi Donnarumma's big-game pedigree — even if both of those men very much have an error in their lockers.

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Both United and City have overhauled their midfields. How does that area of the pitch look?

JW: There was a clear purpose behind United's summer recruitment: strengthen the midfield, but do not overpay for targets. They achieved this on both counts, and yet, some worries remain.

Tielemans and Mainoo have largely been excellent early on this season, providing both a greater sense of control and a higher number of purposeful forward passes than the team has managed in recent campaigns. Yet there are still occasions where the opposition get the ball from back to front too quickly and easily for comfort, suggesting a little more athleticism in the middle wouldn't go amiss. Carlos Baleba should help on that front, but he is still injured, and we're not likely to see the best of him for some time. Andrey Santos' finest qualities have been difficult to figure out in his brief cameos to date.

United wanted Elliot Anderson but were put off by the price tag and his apparent desire to join City. A few further names were mentioned before the more surprising Santos and Tielemans deals were concluded and the late signing of Baleba was sanctioned. The club doesn't appear to be in the position to convince (or afford) the very best midfielders out there, so the latest revamp feels more like a stepping stone towards getting back to that position. Time will tell how that works out.

DF: City's midfield overhaul has not come cheap, but there was no point shopping in the middle of the market after club greats Rodri and Bernardo Silva set sail for El Clasico combat. Tijjani Reijnders and Nico Gonzalez were swiftly moved on as transfer punts who did not work out — something that was almost certainly a persuasive factor when it came to paying top dollar this time around.

Anderson, also a reported United target, has been superb in his first few games for City and already looks essential, mixing aggression and composure in and out of possession. Ayyoub Bouaddi is clearly a very special talent, mature beyond his years, and City are on something of a charm offensive when it comes to Enzo Fernandez. You can't move for players saying what a great guy the Argentina midfielder is. They might have to wait a while for more widespread agreement on that one, but Fernandez has been tidy and involved in goals on both of his City outings so far.

It's a big season for Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden. Will Manchester produce its own derby-day hero this weekend?

JW: It's pretty clear United expected Marcus Rashford to play for a different club by the end of the transfer window. The low buy option ($34.8 million) they included as part of his loan to Barcelona was supposed to be one the Catalans would happily pay, especially after a largely successful time in Spain, but they chose to spend much more on Anthony Gordon instead.

From there, Rashford's exit routes were limited because of his salary. The forward earns around $440,000 per week, and no other clubs in Europe's major leagues seemed prepared to match it. United had planned to get Rashford's enormous wages off the books to help fund the squad rebuild, but they weren't prepared to take any drastic measures to try to force out a homegrown product who has enjoyed some great moments in the red jersey.

So it is that Rashford remains a United player when neither party expected it. To the player's credit, he has performed well early on this season — he was arguably United's most effective and, notably, hard-working forward against Everton. He was also given the night off against Sabah in the Champions League this week, which suggests Carrick wanted him fresh for Sunday. A seventh derby goal would further strengthen the improving relations between the fans and a player who still has plenty to offer,

DF: Maybe the defining performance of Phil Foden's imperious 2023-24 season, when he deservedly won the PFA and FWA Player of the Year awards, came in the March 2024 Manchester derby. City were 1-0 down to a Rashford screamer and in a three-horse title race alongside Arsenal and Liverpool. Foden took Guardiola's team on his shoulders, fired a blistering equaliser into the top corner from long range, fashioned a brilliant second to give City the lead and got the assist as United's defence collapsed and Erling Haaland sealed the points.

Foden also opened the scoring when City beat United at the Etihad Stadium last season, proof of his remaining potency in this fixture, but it's been a tough couple of years. His omission from England's World Cup squad should have been shocking but, on form, it was entirely merited. Maresca has opted for the arm-around-the-shoulder approach with Foden, and he's been prominently involved during the early weeks of his reign. He is likely to start on the right wing, which feels like exactly what Foden needs right now: it gives him a simplified task that highlights his natural goal threat. Whenever he's played centrally as the No.10 this season, he's lacked conviction, and Rayan Cherki feels like a far more dangerous option in that position. 

Foden is clearly in a rebuilding phase and should have better times ahead, but it is hard to say City can confidently rely on him to be the difference-maker this weekend.

So who is the difference-maker, then? Bruno Fernandes or Erling Haaland?

JW: There has been a fairly vocal online section of United fans that has long insisted the team would be better off without Fernandes and that Carrick will be the man to figure this out. Respectfully, this is crazy.

The argument of the 'Bruno Truthers' seems to be that United would have greater balance with a midfield that did not need to accommodate Fernandes as a No. 10, and that his histrionics on the pitch — gesticulating wildly at both teammates and opponents, for example — is a problem that must be stamped out. Neither of these notions is completely without merit, but it overlooks the rather basic fact that Fernandes is United's best footballer by a distance and the main reason they ever beat anybody.

Fernandes is the reigning PFA Players' Player of the Year, FWA Footballer of the Year, and Premier League Player of the Season. He is on the 30-man shortlist for the Ballon d'Or. He broke the single-season assist record in May and has already been directly involved in five goals in four games this term. If United win the derby, it will be because of Fernandes.

DF: Since he joined in 2022, City have not won a Premier League derby where Haaland hasn't scored, so they'd better hope he is the difference-maker. The notion of City being over-reliant on Haaland is somewhat overblown. When an attacker is this prolific, it's always likely to feel this way. Barcelona and Real Madrid relying on Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo a decade ago wasn't exactly a problem, was it? Haaland is obviously a very different player, not so multifaceted as the two "GOATs" at their peak, but his scoring record is absolutely comparable. His match-winning brace in Porto put him on five for the season, his heading seems to be improving by the week and he's still building up to full match sharpness after the World Cup.

The Haaland family also has skin in the Manchester derby game after the infamous clash between Roy Keane and Erling's father Alf-Inge Haaland in 2001. When Haaland stood over a penalty in City's 3-0 win at Old Trafford in 2023, the Stretford End chanted "Keano" before he stuck it away. It's an occasion he revels in, and there's no more likely matchwinner than Haaland this weekend. Admittedly, you can say that about pretty much any game Manchester City and their talismanic No. 9 are involved in.

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And finally... score prediction?

JW: The Old Trafford derby last season was a very particular sort of game: United and the fanbase were buoyed by Carrick's appointment, and City were in the middle of a run of two wins in seven. Without that context, it's hard to see the Red Devils blowing City away in the same manner. I'd expect both Carrick and Maresca to be more cautious about avoiding defeat this early in the season, so a 1-1 draw feels about right.

DF: The first goal in this one feels absolutely gigantic and Old Trafford will be fired up. But I'm going for 2-1 City, with both goals in the first half before they torridly hang on. Incidentally, that's exactly what happened in Guardiola's first derby a decade ago. Time flies.