Manchester derbies rarely need extra spice, but Sunday’s meeting at Old Trafford arrives with a genuinely fresh storyline attached. When Manchester United host Manchester City in the late Sunday kick off, it will be the first time Michael Carrick and Enzo Maresca have gone head to head in the fixture, two managers who took permanent charge of their clubs within a few weeks of each other in the summer and are already being judged on very different curves.
City arrive top of the table on nine points, level with Arsenal, having won every game they have played across all competitions since Maresca replaced Pep Guardiola. United sit eleventh with four points from three matches, a mixed start that has included a chastening opening day defeat to Hull City and a five goal thriller against Ipswich Town inspired by a Bruno Fernandes hat trick. Carrick himself did not shy away from what is on the line. “There’s a lot riding on it,” he said this week, wary of United falling further behind the leading pack so early in the season.
Maresca’s unbeaten start sets the early tone
Maresca’s appointment in the summer, arriving at the Etihad Stadium after his own departure from Chelsea earlier in the year, was always going to be scrutinised against Guardiola’s extraordinary legacy. So far the early signs have been positive. City have beaten Bournemouth, thrashed Crystal Palace, ground out a narrow win over Coventry City and opened their Champions League campaign with a win over Porto. Erling Haaland has been at the heart of it, scoring five goals in City’s first four matches of the season, a run that has taken him to 167 goals in all competitions for the club and above Tommy Johnson into third on City’s all time scoring list, behind only Eric Brook and Sergio Aguero.
New signings are also beginning to bed in. Elliot Anderson, who joined for a club record fee from Nottingham Forest having previously been linked with a move across town to United, could line up alongside fellow summer arrivals Enzo Fernandez and Ayyoub Bouaddi in City’s midfield, though Jeremy Doku remains sidelined with a calf injury. Anderson’s description of City as the “kings of Manchester” earlier this week has done nothing to lower the temperature ahead of Sunday, even if Maresca himself has tried to play down any personal narrative. “To be honest, I’m more thinking about the team, the fans, the table,” he said when asked about facing United for the first time. “The main focus is not that it’s my first derby and I want to win the game. For sure I want to win the game, but it’s because we want to continue to win games.”
Carrick weighs United’s progress against the scale of the task
Carrick’s own reaction to the “kings of Manchester” line was measured rather than combative. Rather than bristling at the suggestion, he pointed to how far his side have come. “I understand it, and I think going into the Champions League game and talking about the expectation there, it’s a really good thing that it’s shifted in a way,” he said, noting that United’s return to the Champions League this season is itself a sign of progress from recent history. “We’re humble enough and realistic enough to know where we’ve come from in recent history, and we need to be, we want to be better and we want to be challenging more.”
There is also a selection boost for United in the return of Marcus Rashford, back at Old Trafford after two loan spells away, the most recent at Barcelona, with the option to make his move permanent having expired over the summer. Carrick has been pleased with how quickly the forward has slotted back in, describing him as “a real threat” in recent appearances and confirming United now have “good options” to keep the squad fresh through a demanding period. Carlos Baleba and Amad Diallo remain unavailable through injury, but Benjamin Sesko’s recent form off the bench gives Carrick something to work with in attack.
History offers United a small crumb of comfort. Their most recent meeting with City, back in January, ended in a 2-0 win at Old Trafford under Carrick’s interim charge, a result that briefly halted City’s dominance of the fixture. City’s response the last time these two sides met at the Etihad, in September last season, was to win 3-0 with Haaland scoring twice, a reminder of how quickly momentum can swing in this fixture depending on which version of each side turns up. Carrick was careful not to lean too heavily on that Old Trafford win when asked about his approach this time around. “There’s no way we’re assuming,” he said. “We won last year but we’re not going to do everything the same.” He added that City have “players to rotate from” and that United will need “a really good performance to get the result we want.”
What is at stake on Sunday
Beyond the personal subplot for two managers still finding their feet in these jobs, the table context gives this derby real early season weight. A City win would stretch their unbeaten start and pile further pressure on a United side already eight points off the top after three games, while a United victory would offer Carrick the sort of statement result that quietens outside noise and gives his rebuilding project genuine early season momentum. Kick off at Old Trafford is 4.30pm on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.
Whatever unfolds, the fixture remains one of English football’s great occasions, and this version of it, shaped by two managers only a few months into defining jobs, is one worth paying close attention to.
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