English Premier League: The Manchester Derby

By Wisdom Peter,

An unforgettable match fixture for Greater Manchester citizens of England.

The Manchester derby first hosted November 12 1881 at St. Marks which ended 0-3 in favour of Manchester United. It is a remarkable competition between the two Manchester teams, Manchester United(formerly Newton Heath) and Manchester City(formerly St. Marks/West Gorton) in the English premier league.

The two teams have played 176 matches in all competitions, with United winning 73, City 51, and having drawn 52 games.

The Manchester United ground, ‘Old trafford’ with 75,000 capacity is approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) to Manchester City’s ground ‘City of Manchester Stadium’ aka ‘Etihad stadium’.

Manchester United, nick named ‘The Red Devils’ have won 20 league titles, 12 FA cups, 5 league cups, 21 community shield titles and 4 European cups(3 Champions league and 1 Europa league). While Manchester City, variously called ‘Cityzen’ have won 5 league titles, the last which came in the 2017/2018 season under Manager Pep Guardiola, 5 FA cups, 5 league cup, 5 and community shield titles.

The last Derby game was in April 2018 at the Etihad stadium with a shocking comeback win for United 2-3.

Manchester City since the arrival of Pep Guardiola as the Manager, have been of great competence, sitting 2nd on the league table in the first year and winning the league the following year. The current year, Manchester City is recording great success topping the league table with 29 points after 11 matches.

Manchester United on the other hand has not been able to recover the Sir Alex exit situation. After Sir Alex’s exit, David Moyes took over, but was unsuccessful. After Moyes was the Dutchman, Louis Van Gaal who
still couldn’t make it good. Nevertheless, Jose Mourinho has taken a different step since taking the Old trafford managing work. In his first season Manchester United lifted the Europa League for the first time in history and was sixth on the league table, the team also won their 12 FA cup and a community sheild.

His second season, Manchester United was second on the log qualifying again for the UEFA Champions league. This season, United is seated on the 8th with 20 points after 11 games played. They were very poor at start of the season with the players reported to have had issues with the Manager, but 6 matches now, they’ve been
striving to do better with 3 come back wins and a draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

On 11th November hosts another derby by 5:30pm at the Etihad stadium.

United Fans are hoping for a better game and a surprise from the team. Manchester City won’t be easy to nag, for they’ve been as consistent as ever, winning their last 4 matches with not less than 4-6 goals.