FootyChatter.com

EPL Advertisement live Updated 3m ago The Manchester derby returns as City host United in today's highly anticipated clash at the Etihad Stadium. Pep Guardiola's side have lost two of their three league games this season and go into a derby below their rivals in the Premier League table for the first time since 2020. Ruben Amorim's visitors have a win, a draw and a defeat from their first three league games of the campaign. GO FURTHER Guardiola, Amorim and troubling times in the state of Manchester In their third and final clash last season, United ground out a dull goalless draw at home. City had the better of the match, outdoing United on almost every key statistic apart from corners (five to three) and shots (13 to nine), but could not find a way past Andre Onana. Stalemate it was. Advertisement In their first mid-season clash of 2024-25, around a month after Ruben Amorim joined after Erik ten Hag's sacking, there was a huge twist ending. Despite the statistics looking similar, City were in control after Josko Gvardiol's first-half goal. At least until the 88th minute, when two goals in two minutes turned the game on its head. First, a slack pass from auxiliary right-back Matheus Nunes put Amad in on goal and the winger cleverly drew the foul from a recovering Nunes, allowing Bruno Fernandes to smash in the equaliser from the penalty spot. Then after a long ball, Amad rounded the goalkeeper and slid it home brilliantly to steal the three points, allowing Amorim to become the first United boss since the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson to win his first Manchester derby. Manchester United beat fierce rivals City 2-1 in the FA Cup final in May 2024, Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo's goals giving United an advantage they would not relinquish despite Jeremy Doku's late strike. That meant they earned the right to play them again in the season-opening Community Shield between the FA Cup winners and Premier League champions City, on August 10. Garnacho's 82nd-minute goal looked like it had given United the win but Bernardo Silva levelled in the 89th minute, taking the match to penalties. Silva missed first up, advantage United, but every other City taker scored, while Jadon Sancho and then Jonny Evans missed. Trophy to City. In the nearly 200 matches between the sides across history, Manchester United hold the advantage in terms of all-time wins against Manchester City. United have won 80 of the 196 meetings, with 61 wins for City and 55 draws. So which side has fared better across their historic meetings? Let's dive in. While Manchester City lay four places back in 13th, a point off their rivals after two defeats from their first three league matches in 2025-26. Again, this table was how things stood before the weekend and so things will look different now for the teams around them. One thing is clear, though: City will be desperate to win, and knowing they can leapfrog their rivals with three points is an added bonus. Advertisement Returning to the English top-flight, let's peek at how the Premier League table looked before the start of the fourth matchweek yesterday. Manchester United scraped into the top half, just about, on goal difference, with a win, draw and loss from their opening three matches. In the fourth edition of The Alternative Premier League Table, The Athletic analyses the entire division through a specific lens, this week looking at each team’s start to 2025-26, and comparing it with how they performed in the same fixtures in 2024-25. Manchester City’s poor start is mitigated by recording the same results in last season’s equivalent games, albeit their start has seen them drop from third to fourth in Opta’s projected points tally (64. 4 from a pre-season figure of 69. 7). While City’s points difference might surprise a few, Manchester United’s record will not. They are three worse off than in the corresponding fixtures from 2024-25 when they beat Fulham at Craven Cottage and Ipswich at Old Trafford while drawing with Arsenal at home. United are ninth in the league standings, three spots higher than where they began Opta’s projected points table. Opta’s latest table still projects them to finish 12th. Manchester United's season has been a little up and down. A 1-0 home defeat agains title hopefuls Arsenal offered promise, the only goal coming from a set piece after Altay Bayindir flapped at a corner, while captain Bruno Fernandes ballooned a late penalty over the bar as United drew 1-1 with Fulham. An utterly embarrassing 12-11 exit on penalties against League Two side Grimsby in the second round of the Carabao Cup increased the pressure on manager Ruben Amorim, so a win next was imperative. And though United had to work hard against promoted Burnley, twice being pegged back after going ahead, they got a penalty deep into stoppage time, which Fernandes converted cathartically for a 97th-minute winner. That brought their first three points of the season and boosted confidence. Confidence they will need today against their rivals. After being knocked out of the summer Club World Cup tournament, shocked by Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal 4-3 in the round of 16, Manchester City opted for a full month of rest and just one pre-season friendly against Palermo a week before the new season. They thrashed Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-0 on the opening day with new signing Tijjani Reijnders the star, but things went downhill from there. Tottenham outdid City at the Etihad via Brennan Johnson and Joao Palhinha, and though they led against Brighton on the south coast, the hosts turned it around in the second half, Brajan Gruda scoring in the 89th minute to inflict successive defeats. City will want to turn that form around, and fast. Until yesterday, there had been no Premier League action for a fortnight, since August 31, due to the first international break of the season. The USMNT lost 2-0 against South Korea last Saturday, but picked up a premium 2-0 win against Japan, albeit a heavily rotated Japan to deliver some positivity to Mauricio Pochettino's men. England played two 2026 World Cup qualifiers, beating minnows Andorra 2-0 in a stodgy performance before thrashing Serbia 5-0 away from home in a much more impressive showing. Elsewhere, Manchester City striker Erling Haaland had a productive international break, scoring the only goal of a tightly contested match against fellow Scandinavian side Finland. .. . .. before scoring five goals and recording two assists in an 11-1 thrashing of Moldova. Advertisement United, meanwhile, kept Altay Bayindir and Tom Heaton around as second- and third-choice, but cut their losses with last season's No 1 Andre Onana. In his stead came Belgian Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp. Rather than appearing in the Manchester derby today, Onana is set to make his debut for new side Trabzonspor in Istanbul, Turkey, as the action at the Etihad reaches its final stages. Ironically, he might be opposite former City player Ederson, now at Fenerbahce. As our very own Laurie Whitwell writes: ✍️ Circumstances changed when Onana returned for pre-season. His hamstring injury, picked up on the first day at the training ground, and an expectation he would remain No 1, left Amorim dissatisfied. Some people close to United are surprised Onana, 29, elected to leave . .. although it is a straight loan, he is effectively ending his United career with this switch. A return after a season of Super Lig football is highly unlikely. Goalkeeping expert Matt Pyzdrowski looked into why things didn't work out here, but the rub is: Onana is out. Though Pep Guardiola said on June 2 that “we’ve talked about the situation of the squad, and the two goalkeepers we have will stay, ” there was more upheaval than that. Last season's No 1 Ederson left, as did third-choice Scott Carson. Gianluigi Donnarumma arrived from PSG, James Trafford was snapped up from Burnley as Newcastle circled, while Marcus Bettinelli joined from Chelsea to replace Carson. Stefan Ortega remains in situ, albeit somewhat frozen out. Trafford might have expected to be No 1 before Donnarumma joined, so it will be interesting to see what he makes of the Italian saying competition in the position is ‘good for everyone’. The Athletic's James Horncastle argues here that despite Donnarumma's apparent unsuitability to City's ball-playing model and play style, he is still a world-class talent, while Jordan Campbell dives deeper on their long summer of goalkeepers below. GO FURTHER Manchester City and the long summer of goalkeepers City and United might not have expected to endure such change in their goalkeeping departments at the start of the window, but by the time of this match both teams look markedly different between the sticks. We'll explore how and why shortly. Manchester United are happy with their summer transfer business. Matheus Cunha (Wolves), Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford) and Benjamin Sesko (RB Leipzig) constitute a big-money front three, while 23-year-old goalkeeper Senne Lammens potentially addresses a problem position after Andre Onana's loan exit to Trabzonspor. United also waved goodbye to four members of their five-man ‘bomb squad’ — wingers Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, Jadon Sancho and Antony. United, however, did not reinforce their midfield, despite it being a position they planned to strengthen. GO FURTHER Inside Man United’s transfer window: Ratcliffe’s risk-taking, ‘Project 90’, Amorim’s Baleba push, heartbroken Hojlund The summer 2025 transfer window shut with Manchester City having a significantly different squad to the one Pep Guardiola could call upon on this time last year. City spent around £220million ($298m) on Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri, James Trafford, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marcus Bettinelli and Sverre Nypan. They brought in around £80million with Kyle Walker, Ederson, Manuel Akanji (on loan with a conditional obligation), James Mc Atee, Yan Couto, Maximo Perrone and Ilkay Gundogan all departing. The transition has been more jarring than a ruthlessly disciplined succession plan would have dictated, but the new cycle is certainly here. Advertisement The Premier League's summer transfer window closed on September 1, the day after the last game of matchweek 3, with Manchester City, Manchester United and plenty of other sides wrapping up their business. Let's take a look at how things shook out for today's opponents. The Athletic is the best place to be for all sports fans. In the soccer, the Premier League continues after the international break and the European ties are not far away, while in the golf the Ryder Cup is coming up at the end of the month from Bethpage, New York. Plus there is coverage of NFL, college football, cycling and plenty beyond. You can follow all of that — and so much more — with us. Subscribe on an exclusive offer here. Etihad Stadium, Manchester Technically the City of Manchester Stadium but shortened to ‘The Etihad’ for sponsorship reasons, opened in 2003 and thus at 22 years old is younger than most members of both team's squads. Its capacity is 53, 600, making it the seventh-largest football stadium in England (side note: can you name the other six? If you think so, let us know at: live@theathletic. com). Though it's been cruelly nicknamed ‘The Empty-had’ due to criticisms about its empty seats and lack of atmosphere — feel free to debate the merits of that moniker — it will be loud and proud today for the derby, no question.