Confirmed Starting XI: Martial and Greenwood lead the line against City; three at the back again for United – high press incoming?

Manchester United will travel across the city to face rivals Manchester City at the Etihad in the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg on Wednesday evening. After losing 3-1 at Old Trafford at the start of the month Ole Gunnar Solskjaer side will have a lot to do in order to knock Pep Guardiola’s side out of the competition. United will need to score twice to level the tie on aggregate.

United beat City at the Etihad back in December with a 2-1 victory, something which Guardiola’s team were not ready for. After seeing this United side dominate, albeit against Tranmere, if the same formation and mentality were applied in this game, United could get a result away from home with could put them into the final but it will need to be a big result with United needing to aim for a clean sheet, which will be a big task.

United have announced the singing of Bruno Fernandes who is currently on his way to Manchester for a medical, however, the signing came too late for this evening’s match and he will most likely made his debut at Old Trafford on Saturday when United welcome Wolverhampton Wanderers to the Theatre of Dreams in the Premier League. United still have more to do in order to strengthen the team but creativity should improve with this new signing.

Manchester United:

De Gea;

Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw;

Wan-Bissaka, Fred, Matic, Williams;

Lingard;

Greenwood, Martial

Substitutes:

Romero; Bailly, Jones, Dalot; Mata, Pereira, James

Manchester City:

Bravo;

Walker, Rodrigo, Otamendi, Cancelo;

De Bruyne, Gündogan, B. Silva;

Mahrez, Aguero, Sterling

Substitutes:

Ederson; Stones, Zinchenko, Garcia; D. Silva, Foden; Jesus

United and City have played a total of 180 matches in this history of both clubs with the first match being played in 1891. United have won 74 times, drawn 52 times and lost 54 times. United lost in their last meeting at the start of the month, a 3-1 defeat for United with Marcus Rashford scoring for United when they were 3-0 down. City’s goals came from Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez, and an Andreas Pereira own goal.

At the start of December 2019, United met City at the Etihad in the Premier League, winning 2-1 after Marcus Rashford scored a penalty in the 23rd minute of the match with Anthony Martial doubling the lead six minutes later. A late consolation from Nicolás Otamendi spoiled the party a little with United not keeping a clean sheet. This will be the third Manchester derby this season, with one more to come.

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I support Manchester United, the greatest English football team to have ever existed. Bruno Fernandes is the latest in a long line of players with great ability to play for the club. I idolised Bryan Robson, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Eric Cantona growing up.