Can Manchester United finally break into the top 4 by beating Manchester City at 8pm on Sky Sports 1?

Jose Mourinho’s first season in charge of United still feels like a disappointment despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. They’ve already won the EFL Cup, have a Europa League semi-final against Celta Vigo to look forward to next month, and haven’t lost a Premier League game since October 23rd last year.

Yet that final fact only tells half of the story domestically. United have drawn 12 of their 32 league games, the joint highest with Middlesbrough who, for a bit of perspective, are likely to be relegated by the end of the season. This inability to close games out partially stems from their wastefulness up front, the injured Zlatan Ibrahimovic being a prime example of this despite being far and away the club’s top scorer.



Nevertheless the absence of United’s formidable Swede leaves a big whole to fill, meaning Mourinho desperately needs Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial to step up – they head into Thursday night at Super Mega PGMs of 20-24 and 18-22 respectively. It also provides Wayne Rooney with an opportunity to prove he isn’t past it; the out of favour England forward scored his third league goal of the season against Burnley at the weekend, and at a Super Mega PGM of 17-21 will be looking to increase that tally at the Etihad.

Like his former La Liga rival, Pep Guardiola hasn’t enjoyed the most illustrious debut in Manchester. If anything he has suffered the greater disappointment, with no silverware on offer after City’s weekend FA Cup exit against Arsenal. To avoid the season being a complete bust he needs to at least get City to the Champions League, something that is still far from certain.

Thursday’s hosts currently sit in 4th place, 1 point ahead of their Red opponents in 5th and just 2 points behind 3rd place Liverpool, but crucially with 2 games in hand over the latter. It’s a precarious position, and with Arsenal also still chasing 1 of the 2 remaining Champions League spots – it is hard to imagine Chelsea or Tottenham giving up theirs – the result of the derby could be huge.

City’s attacking optoins may be what separates the 2 sides. Sergio Aguero, who has 30 goals in all competitions, is at a Super Mega PGM of 39-46, while Guardiola could potentially play the back-from-injury Gabriel Jesus, who sits at a spread of 30-36. They also have Kelechi Iheanacho, at 22-27. Leroy Sane, at 19-23, and Kevin De Bruyne, at 14-18.

So far this season the honours have been shared, with City winning in the league and United winning in the EFL Cup. This time out Guardiola looks set to make it the best of 3, with Spreadex offering a Manchester City/Manchester United Goal Supremacy spread of 0.5-0.7 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.6-2.8.