Blues suffer defensive blow ahead of the derby with Portuguese centre-back ruled out for 4-6 weeks
Manchester City vs Manchester United
Competition: F.A. Premier League
Date: 4.30pm, Sunday 6th March 2022
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Referee: Michael Oliver Assistants: S Bennett, S Ledger Fourth Official: A Madley VAR: S Atwell
Odds: City 2/5, Draw 4/1, United 13/2
Tickets: Sold out
TV: Sky Sports
Manchester City
Manager: Pep Guardiola
Squad (from): Ederson, Carson, Slicker, Walker, Stones, Zinchenko, Laporte, Cancelo, Mbete, Gundogan, Grealish, Rodri, De Bruyne, Silva, Fernandinho, Foden, Palmer, McAtee, Sterling, Jesus, Mahrez, Delap
Injured: Ake, Dias, Steffen
Doubtful: Palmer
Suspended: Mendy
Form guide: WWLWW
Manchester United
Manager: Ralf Rangnick
Squad (from): De Gea, Grant, Heaton, Henderson, Lindelof, Bailly, Jones, Maguire, Varane, Dalot, Shaw, Telles, Wan-Bissaka, Pogba, Mata, Lingard, Fred, Fernandes, Matic, McTominay, Ronaldo, Rashford, Cavani, Sancho, Elanga
Injured: None
Doubtful: Cavani
Suspended: Greenwood
Form guide: DWWDD
City have been dealt a defensive blow ahead of the Manchester derby, as Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake were both ruled out with injuries sustained during the FA Cup win at Peterborough in midweek. The extent of Ake's injury is unknown, but Dias will miss 4-6 weeks with a hamstring problem. John Stones and Aymeric Laporte will deputise.
“Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake are not available for Sunday,” said Pep Guardiola at Friday's press conference.
“I am not going to cry. We have two central defenders, but it is what it is.
“People said we were lucky with Covid, but we have only 15, 16 players (available) in the last months.
“We will fight. We want to play good, have good behaviours and movements. And hopefully our people can support us like they always do. ”
“Cole Palmer feels better. Hopefully he can start training in the next few days. The rest are good.”
City won their last game against United 2-0, with Eric Bailly (og) and Bernardo Silva netting for the Blues. Overall City have won 54 of the 175 games played against United, with 50 draws and 71 defeats.
Predicted line-up: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Cancelo, Rodri, Gundogan, Bernardo, De Bruyne, Foden, Sterling
Score prediction: City 2 United 1