Manchester City host Manchester United this Saturday in the Manchester Derby with City looking to secure the Premier League title, writes DEAN WORKMAN.
It is the stuff of fairytales and I’m sure if you asked the Manchester City fans, they would love nothing more than winning the title against their fiercest rivals.
Pep Guardiola’s side have blown all their opposition away in the Premier League. They sit sixteen points above Manchester United, who are in second place, and stand a chance to clinch the title in record time against their neighbours this weekend. If they do manage to beat United, they will break a record that United set in the 2000-01 season when they won the league on 14 April 2001.
This isn’t the only record that this City side could break this season, not to mention the one they have already broken.
They have already broken the record for the most consecutive wins, beating Arsenal’s record of fourteen wins in a row, which was set in 2002. Guardiola’s team also went on to set a new record of eighteen consecutive victories but fell just short of the record set across Europe’s top five leagues. That record belongs to Bayern Munich, who won nineteen straight games while Guardiola was at the helm.
They have also already broken the record for the most wins during one campaign after bettering Chelsea’s 13-game run between October and December in the 2016-17 season.
City also still have a chance to break a further five Premier League records which include: most points in a season, winning points margin, goals in a season, most wins in a season and most goals in the final ten minutes, although it does look unlikely that they will break all five.
Despite often looking invincible this season, City may finally be showing some vulnerabilities. They suffered a damaging 3-0 defeat in their Champions League quarter-final first leg against Liverpool on Wednesday and with the return leg on Tuesday, can the Citizens turn up for both the Manchester Derby and the second-leg tie against the Reds? Many questions have also been asked about whether Guardiola will rotate his side with an eye on the Champions League game.
Jose Mourinho and his team may just have a different mindset after Wednesday night. If they can beat their neighbours on Saturday, it would not only provide another big blow to City’s confidence ahead of the Liverpool game, but would also put a smudge on their season and protect United’s record in the process.
United may not have met the bar set by City this season but they certainly have shown a notable improvement. They sit in pole position to finish in second spot and have an FA Cup semi-final to look forward to. Considering the Red Devils finished sixth last year, a second-place finish would normally be seen as a good season. City, however, have looked lightyears ahead of the whole league which has seen them outshine any improvements that Mourinho’s men have made.
Despite not being entirely convincing this season, United are on a great run of form. They have won their last four Premier League games, beating Chelsea and Liverpool in the process. A victory against City will certainly give the United fans something to shout about after listening to the noises coming out of the blue half of Manchester all season long.
City will be favourites going into the encounter at the Etihad Stadium and rightly so, but the occasion is perfectly set for Mourinho and his team to spoil the party or at least delay it for another week.
City will take on United at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday, with kick-off at 18:30.
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