The English Premier League (EPL) 2024/25 season so far has been exciting and with lots of surprises. Reigning champions Manchester City have been struggling in the league so far. Pep Guardiola’s side has just run of one win in 10 games in all competitions is an unprecedented slump for the English champions. Since their side’s midfielder and Ballon d’Or Winner Rodri has been out injured the side has failed to win games.
Amidst their poor run, they will be facing their arch-city rivals Manchester United on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium. For the first time, the Sky Blues go into the Manchester derby mired in even more turmoil than United after a dismal run of one win in 10 games in all competitions. The Spanish coach will have another sleepless night as he attempts to cause additional issues for Ruben Amorim in the Manchester United manager’s first encounter.
United are far from peak form, having won only three of Amorim’s six games in charge since replacing the dismissed Erik ten Hag. But Amorim has already dealt Guardiola a devastating blow this season, when his Sporting team defeated City 4-1 in the Champions League in Lisbon on November 5. City lost an early lead on that occasion, beaten by Viktor Gyokeres’ hat-trick as Amorim mercilessly exposed the flaws in Guardiola’s underconfident defense.
Manchester will be sleepless
The humiliating defeat occurred only days before Amorim officially took over at Old Trafford, and Guardiola would love to exact revenge at the Manchester Derby this weekend. It remains to be seen whether Guardiola’s injury-plagued team, whose confidence appears to be in ruins, will be able to record a sixth win in their previous seven league encounters with United. Guardiola is also feeling the burden of the worst run of his glittering managerial career.
Amorim has plenty of concerns to address after a difficult first month in Manchester, with only one league victory in four games. United is in 13th place after consecutive league losses to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest highlighting the scale of Amorim’s rebuilding efforts. They failed to find any form in a nail-biting 2-1 Europa League victory over Viktoria Plzen on Thursday.
