9 min After a slow start, United are starting to get on the ball. Fernandes clips a teasing pass over the defence towards Dalot, who makes a terrific run infield but can\u2019t control the ball in mid-air. Had he done so, he would have had a shooting chance. But it would have been a tough ball for Diego Maradona to kill, never mind Diogo Dalot.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.41 EDT<\/p>\n 7 min The resulting free-kick is taken on the right by Fernandes and retrieved on the far side by Rashford. He finds the supporting Martinez, who sweeps a left-foot shot from 25 yards; Donnarumma makes a comfortable save.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.38 EDT<\/p>\n 6 min Rashford stays down holding his head after being sandwiched by Semenyo and Anderson. I think he was accidentally caught by Anderson as he fell.<\/p>\n Either way, he\u2019s fine to continue.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.38 EDT<\/p>\n 5 min Anderson\u2019s first corner is headed behind for another. It\u2019s taken short and worked across the field to Cherki on the right. His floated cross is eventually lumped clear by Dorgu.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 3 min City have started well. Foden plays a perfectly timed lay off to Enzo Fernandez, whose shot from 20 yards hits Maguire and ricochets behind for a corner.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 2 min And, as expected, Antoine Semenyo has started on the left for City with Phil Foden on the right.<\/p>\n Maguire chops Cherki down 40 yards from goal \u2013 a challenge which, in the opinion of Gary Neville on Sky, might have brought a yellow card had it not been so early in the contest.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.33 EDT<\/p>\n 1 min United kick off from left to right as we watch. Sounds like a cracking atmosphere at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n United have started with Cunha as their false nine. No funny stuff from Michael Carrick.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cManchester Utd have to be physical,\u201d writes AnhTuan Nguyen Huynh. \u201cWith Benjamin Sesko on the bench, City won.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019d politely \u2013 nay, meekly \u2013 disagree. I think they need pace on the counter-attack for the first hour. Sesko is rapid but I don\u2019t know whether his movement in transition is as good as the other options. I suspect, had Amad Diallo been fit, United would have started Mbeumo up front. They may yet do that, with Cunha roaming from the right.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Ben Bloom<\/p>\n Match report: Coventry 0-5 Brighton<\/p>\n The bare statistic is bleak: Coventry City are only the second team in Premier League<\/a> history to lose their first four games of the season without scoring in any of them. \u201cAnd yet \u2026\u201d will be the enduring message from Frank Lampard.<\/p>\n And yet they have caused problems for opposition teams \u2013 even at points when down to 10 men here against Brighton. And yet they have already faced three of the top flight\u2019s European contingent. And yet they are not playing that badly. But they simply cannot find the point, or even the goal, that would give their confidence a much-needed boost. And it does not take long for a promoted club\u2019s relegation fears to turn realistic.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Enzo Maresca\u2019s pre-match thoughts<\/p>\n double quotation mark[What\u2019s the key on derby day?] Probably to keep the emotion away, but that\u2019s not easy. Embrace the chaos \u2013 it\u2019s a derby, it\u2019s nice \u2013 and try to play our game.<\/p>\n I\u2019m happy because we have different options [on the bench]. He [Ayyoub Bouaddi] played very well against Porto and is going to bring up a lot of happiness.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Man Utd\u2019s tactics Given the success of Bryan Mbeumo up front against City last season, there\u2019s a case for United starting with Matheus Cunha on the left and the speedier Marcus Rashford up front. We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Some more pre-match reading<\/p>\n If you\u2019re a Manchester United fan, or just a fan of great writing, I heartily recommend United Writing, a Substack written by my colleague (and mentor) Tim de Lisle. Here\u2019s the latest piece<\/a> on Sabah, Youri Tielemans and more.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Brighton\u2019s fourth goal was a screamer from Lewis Dunk, of all people, prompting this email from Steve Bradfield.<\/p>\n double quotation markIs Brighton\u2019s fourth goal a slam Dunk for goal of month?<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Full time: Coventry 0-5 Brighton<\/p>\n Brighton are up to fourth after hammering the bottom club Coventry, who remain stuck on nil points and nil goals.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Protest watch<\/p>\n Will Unwin, our man at Old Trafford, says the pre-match protests were \u201cnot as vociferous and well attended as previous protests\u201d. Especially this one<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> Enzo Maresca has backed Elliot Anderson\u2019s assessment that \u00adManchester City are the \u201ckings of Manchester<\/a>\u201d as he prepares for his first derby in charge of the club.<\/p>\n City travel to Old Trafford seeking to continue their perfect start to life under Maresca and further prove Anderson\u2019s point. The 23-year-old midfielder made his claim on signing from Nottingham Forest for \u00a3116m in the summer and having witnessed City win eight Premier League<\/a> titles during the past 14 years, compared with United\u2019s one.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Manchester City<\/a> was unbelievable what they achieved. It\u2019s normal when Elliot said that,\u201d said Maresca. \u201cIf you go back it\u2019s a different picture, but for me the reason he said that is because when he grew up Manchester City was dominant.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Premier League latest: Coventry 0-3 Brighton \u201cFeel free to just gloss over the other game today,\u201d writes Eddy Nason. \u201cClearly nothing happening there (uncovers eyes to check how bad it\u2019s getting).\u201d<\/p>\n Yeah sorry, I\u2019m not sure why we\u2019re not covering that. But it\u2019s a case of grim and grimmer for Coventry fans: their team are 3-0 down after 76 minutes and Taiwo Awoniyi has been sent off.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> It was a sight the England press pack became increasingly used to seeing after the team\u2019s World Cup matches over the summer. Kobbie Mainoo was invariably the first to leave the dressing room, walk through the mixed zone \u2013 eyes dead ahead, features impassive \u2013 and board the bus.<\/p>\n It was as if he could not get out of the stadiums quick enough and the further England progressed<\/a> the more pronounced it started to feel. There was a real gap between Mainoo and the next England player to depart the stadium in the knockout rounds<\/a>. The Manchester United midfielder is inscrutable, even in the heat of battle. It is part of his enviably unflappable temperament. It was no great leap to imagine what lay behind the mask \u2013 tremendous frustration as Thomas Tuchel kept on leaving him out.<\/p>\n Mainoo did not play a single minute at the tournament. He was an unused substitute all the way to the semi-final exit against Argentina, and when everyone expected to see him in the third-place playoff against France<\/a> he did not make the bench. The Football Association said before the game he had picked up an unspecified injury.<\/p>\n For Mainoo it was a lost summer and yet it was physically and mentally draining all the same, what with the training and travel; the demand to stay focused as he waited and waited. .<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Team news<\/p>\n United are without Luke Shaw, who has an unspecified injury, so Patrick Dorgu starts at left-back. So much for Michael Carrick repeating his tactics from the win over City in January; on that day Dorgu started as the left-sided attacker and scored the second goal. Dorgu for Shaw is the only change from United\u2019s last Premier League<\/a> game, the 2-2 draw with Everton a week ago.<\/p>\n Enzo Maresca makes two changes from Manchester City\u2019s win over Coventry last weekend. Matheus Nunes replaces Abdukodir Khusanov at right-back; Phil Foden is preferred to Iliman Ndiaye in attack, which may mean a switch from right to left for Antoine Semenyo. The usual left-winger, Jeremy Doku, is still out with a calf injury.<\/p>\n Man Utd (4-2-3-1) Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Dorgu; Mainoo, Tielemans; Mbeumo, B Fernandes, Rashford; Cunha.<\/p>\n Subs: Andrey Santos, Darlow, Heaven, Lacey, Mazraoui, Mount, Sesko, Yoro, Zirkzee.<\/p>\n Man City (4-2-3-1) Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Guehi, Gvardiol; Anderson, Fernandez; Foden, Cherki, Semenyo; Haaland<\/p>\n Subs: Rulli, Ndiaye, Kovacic, Reis, Bouaddi, O\u2019Reilly, Allan, Khusanov, Lewis.<\/p>\n Referee Michael Oliver.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a011.29 EDT<\/p>\n Manchester City have enjoyed a perfect start to the season without ever looking fully convincing in their victories. There are certainly more positives than negatives as Enzo Maresca learns more and more about his team. Against Porto they were sloppy for far too long and the midfield continues to look open, so a statement performance against their fiercest rivals would be ideal. The quality to rip open a team that has conceded two in each of their three Premier League outings thus far is there, and if it all finally clicks, then it could be a fine day for City.<\/p>\n Michael Carrick is in a not dissimilar position but only has four points to show for United\u2019s indifferent efforts. There is always an underlying pressure for any Manchester United<\/a> and he faces difficult league games today and next weekend at Fulham before an elongated international break. He can\u2019t afford two defeats because there will be a long silence that will be filled with think pieces on the club because it is impossible to escape the noise at this club.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> Manchester United\u2019s nine victories from 10 Premier League games at Old Trafford in 2026 cast their stadium as a fortress Manchester City aim to ransack on Sunday, to join Leeds in departing with three points during this calendar year.<\/p>\n Michael Carrick has overseen the division\u2019s highest home points-per-game return in that span: 2.7, ahead of Arsenal\u2019s 2.27 (from 12 matches) and Manchester City\u2019s 2.25 (11); and his side have scored the most goals: 26, to City\u2019s 23, and the champions\u2019 20.<\/p>\n A United fan group, the 1958, has called for a \u201cpeaceful protest\u201d before kick-off, starting at a pub near the stadium, against what it believes is disproportionate action in the club\u2019s drive to eradicate ticket touting. United said on Friday that 685 accounts had been subject to a ban and 464 supporters had received a reduced sanction or final warning.<\/p>\n![\"Will](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789314132_229_Will_Unwin.png\")
Will Unwin<\/p>\n![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789314132_247_David_Hytner,_L.png\")
David Hytner<\/p>\nWill Unwin<\/p>\n![\"Jamie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789314133_730_Jamie-Jackson,-L.png\")
Jamie Jackson<\/p>\n