Manchester City host bitter rivals United this evening, with the pressure very much on Pep Guardiola’s side after Liverpool eased past Bournemouth earlier this afternoon.
Liverpool’s win means that the Reds now boast a commanding fourteen point lead over City, who also trail Leicester City.
United have made a similarly inauspicious start to the new season but did beat Tottenham at Old Trafford on Wednesday night and they will go fifth with a win. Follow live coverage below:
Man City 0 – 0 Man Utd
3 mins: United have the first chance of the game! They counter attack well with Lingard keeping possession and slotting the ball out to Rashford. He runs it to the edge of the box and gives it to Martial, Martial lays it off to Fred who passes it into the right side of the box. James collects the ball and shoots but Ederson palms it away.
Man City 0 – 0 Man Utd
Kick off: Man Utd get the 179th Manchester derby underway. Martial playing the ball to Lindelof who boots it up the left wing searching for Rashford. City win the ball take control.
Less than 10 minutes to go until the 179th Manchester derby. Who are you going for Red or Blue?
Man City or Man Utd?
He defeated Jose Mourinho on Wednesday night. Can his United team take care of Pep Guardiola today?
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been speaking out ahead of kick off, he said:
“You want as many good players on the pitch as possible especially when you play a fantastic team like Man City. We’ll have to play our best to have a chance of a result.
“Luke [Shaw] is ready, he played over in Astana and he’s been coming on in the last two games, to get time to get sharp. Now he’s trained really well and hopefully we’ll see the best of Luke.
“We’d like to keep the ball. If you let Man City have the ball too much they can out football anybody, they can football you to death. We’ll have to bee good in our pressing, good in our defensive shape but we want to keep the ball as well. We are a threat, we can attack quickly so we want to feed our forwards as much as we can.
“[The players] are confident but also humble. They know we’re playing against a fantastic side on their home ground so we’ll have to perform and they know that.”
Second place, Leicester will play tomorrow so for the time being Liverpool go top of the table with an 11 point gap. That means they’ll be leading the Premier League at Christmas.
Up next is the Manchester derby, Man City will go 14 points behind if they lose. Man Utd will move into the top five with three points and can close the gap on Chelsea in fourth.
Lots to play for then.
The results from the 3pm kick offs:
Bournemouth 0 – 3 Liverpool
Tottenham 5 – 0 Burnley
Watford 0 – 0 Crystal Palace
Bournemouth 0 – 3 Liverpool
90 mins: Two minutes to play in this match. As easy as you like for Liverpool.
Bournemouth 0 – 3 Liverpool
87 mins: Oxlade-Chamberlain is replaced with Shaqiri who comes on for the final five or six minutes or so.
Shaqiri, out on the left wing, slots a ball to the edge of the box where Jones is waiting. He hits the volley and puts the ball over the bar.
Bournemouth 0 – 3 Liverpool
84 mins: The game is meandering to it’s inevitable conclusion. Keita uses a burst of pace to run the ball into the box before laying it off for Firmino. Firmino shoots but has his shot blocked.
Bournemouth 0 – 3 Liverpool
81 mins: Bournemouth scramble at the back as Milner and Alexander-Arnold deliver consecutive balls into the box. They don’t yield anything for Liverpool other than to show how big of a gap there is between this Liverpool team and that of Bournemouth.
Bournemouth 0 – 3 Liverpool
78 mins: Bournemouth’s gameplan now is to prevent another Liverpool goal. They’ve almost given up going forward. The ball comes to Milner who sends the ball to the back post where Alexander-Arnold comes running into the box. He chips a cross to Salah but Simpson heads the ball away before the offside flag is raised.
Bournemouth 0 – 3 Liverpool
75 mins: Andy Robertson goes off with Curtis Jones replacing him to make his Premier League debut for Liverpool at the age of 18.
Bournemouth 0 – 3 Liverpool
72 mins: Liverpool are happy to maintain possession, Milner plays the ball over the top as Keita makes a run. Rico does his duty and wins the ball back before booting it away and sending it back to Liverpool.
Bournemouth 0 – 3 Liverpool
69 mins: Salah fires a shot at the Bournemouth goalkeeper after he runs it into the area from the right. Ramsdale dives to his left and palms the ball away to deny Salah a second.
Bournemouth 0 – 3 Liverpool
66 mins: Solanke puts the ball into the back of the at as Lerma sends the cross in. But Lerma was offside as the ball was played up to him and the goal won’t count. Encouraging signs from Bournemouth though.
Match preview
What is the team news?
Aymeric Laporte, Leroy Sane, Sergio Aguero and Oleksandr Zinchenko are all out for City. Fernandinho is however working his way back to full fitness and could feature.
Anthony Martial is still out for United meaning Mason Greenwood could retain his place.
Paul Pogba, Diogo Dalot, Eric Bailly and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are all out.
What are the predicted line-ups?
Man City XI: Ederson; Cancelo, Otamendi, Fernandinho, Mendy; De Bruyne, Rodri, David Silva; Bernardo Silva, Jesus, Sterling
Man Utd XI: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Williams; McTominay, Fred, Pereira; James, Greenwood, Rashford
How can I watch the match?
The match will be shown live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event.
Can I stream the match online?
Yes. The match will be available to watch on Now TV with a day pass, sold for £8.99. Sky Sports subscribers can meanwhile stream the match online via Sky Go.
When is the match?
The match takes place on Saturday 7 December 2019.
It kicks-off at 5.30pm GMT.
What are the odds?
Man City to win: 1/3
Man Utd to win: 10/1
Draw: 5/1
What is our prediction?
An entertaining 2-2 draw.
