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The Etihad is set to host to the 197th Manchester derby this weekend with both City and United enduring indifferent starts this season. BBC Sport explores some key themes as this historic rivalry continues.
Three points from a possible nine represents Pep Guardiola’s worst start to any league season, while 21 years have passed since Manchester City were last beaten in two of their opening three Premier League matches.
The previous time City lost three of their first four top-flight games was in 1995-96 under Alan Ball. That campaign ended in relegation and while that is almost certainly not going to happen to this side, defeat here could see them fall nine points behind the early pacesetters Liverpool.
Guardiola will again look to the in-form Erling Haaland to fire his side to victory. The 25-year-old scored a hat-trick in his first Manchester derby in 2022 and warmed up for this one by netting five times in Norway’s 11-1 victory over Moldova.
It was the third five-goal haul of Haaland’s senior career and he has now scored 48 international goals in 45 caps. City’s number nine would usually dominate the headlines given the week he has had, but most of the focus during the build-up is likely to be on the club’s new number 99.
Gianluigi Donnarumma could become the eighth City player to make their Premier League bow in a Manchester derby and the third goalkeeper after Andreas Isaksson in 2006 and Claudio Bravo in 2016. Neither kept a clean sheet, although Isaksson did appear as a half-time substitute for Nicky Weaver.
Five of the previous seven debutants ended up on the winning side, two found the net and one – Mikhail Kavelashvili – is now the president of Georgia.
