Five match days into the Premier League season, the difference between the two Manchester clubs has reached a cliff.
“City” won all the games they played. Old Trafford tells a more bleak story. United enter the three-week international break to get only fit bodies back on the training pitch. Both facts date back to the same afternoon at Old Trafford, when the two clubs met and the result set the tone for everything that followed.
Perfect Five Games for the City
Enzo Maresca’s men are top of the table with five wins from five, plus-8 goal difference and 15 points from a possible 15. The clearest signal came on 20 September, when City beat Sunderland 5-3 in a game that doubled as a showcase for their attacks.
Erling Haaland leads the Premier League goalscoring charts with five goals in five games and his finishing has remained consistent throughout a summer that has seen City rebuild much of the rest of the squad around him.
Where the Early Betting Market Moved
Sportsbooks reacted quickly to City’s launch. Maresca’s side have been relegated to well below even money for the title after five matches, a price point markets usually close to in December.
Anyone keeping track of how that figure changes from week to week can follow the current line at mcw-bd.net, as this month’s action has tracked City’s goal difference almost as closely as the points column. United’s price for a top-four finish has fallen at a similar rate, surpassing mid-table value with over thirty league games still to play. Squad depth drives that swing. A single score line rarely moves the market this early in the season.
A Derby that sets the tone
City’s win over United on September 13 did more than open up the points gap. Phil Foden was sent off in the 23rd minute for a tackle on Bruno Fernandes and City played the final 67 minutes at Old Trafford with ten men. The city won again. Haaland found the goal that did it, his ninth in the Premier League against United, after VAR allowed a marginal offside call.
According to ESPN’s match report, City still had 52 per cent despite the red card, which told its own story about the gap in squad quality. It was also the 199th competitive meeting between the two clubs and the first Manchester derby since Pep Guardiola left City. In the competition’s full history, United still lead the all-time streak with 81 wins and 55 draws between them to City’s 63, although that gap narrows every decade. Competition continues to intensify.
A Squad Stretched Thin
United’s absentee list has increased to seven players in one match. Matthijs de Ligt has been sidelined since November with a back injury and is not expected to return until October 10 against Tottenham. Marcus Rashford beat Fulham. After the 76th minute, he was removed from the England team. Manuel Ugarte is still working from the knee injury he sustained in his side’s World Cup exit and Benjamin Sesko is nursing a recurring calf problem that ruled him out of the matchday squad against Fulham. A recent injury update revealed just how tight a margin Michael Carrick currently has to work with.