Premier League Preview – Manchester United vs Manchester City, Wednesday 24th April 2019

The title won’t officially be decided on Wednesday night – but mentally it could be, as Man City make the short trip to Man United, at 8pm on Sky Sports.

This is the biggest match-up left of the 2018/19 Premier League season, the one that could make or break City’s title defence. Working on the potentially dangerous assumption that Pep Guardiola’s lot can overcome Burnley, Leicester and Brighton in their final 3 games, and ditto that Liverpool can see off Huddersfield, Newcastle and Wolves (even if the latter have surprised the Reds this year), then Wednesday’s derby is the one major uncertainty left.

Just 2 point separate the pair, with City’s game in hand happening to be, in a perfect bit of accidental drama, at Old Trafford. Win, and they pull ahead of Liverpool by a point; anything else and they’d need the Reds to slip up somewhere in their final trio of eminently winnable fixtures.

It’s worth noting that the fixture is no less important for United. Currently they are set to finish outside the top 4; even a win on Wednesday wouldn’t be enough to lift them into one of the Champions League-securing spots. But, and given the inconsistencies of those sides above them, it would leave the club positioned to take advantage of any mistakes made by Arsenal (who take on Wolves this evening) and Chelsea (who United host on Sunday).

However, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and co. are hardly entering the match in the best state. In their last 8 games in all competitions – a period that has roughly coincided with the Norwegian’s managerial status becoming permanent – United have lost 6 times, only managing to beat Watford and West Ham. This dreadful run of form, which included a Champions League exit at the hands of Barcelona and a pair of defeats at Wolves, culminated in a 4-0 embarrassment at Everton last Sunday.

Chasing his 2nd Golden Boot, but needing to break away from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mohamed Salah to do so, Sergio Aguero is at a Super Mega PGM of 54-62, followed by Gabriel Jesus at 49-57 and Raheem Sterling at 35-41. In contrast Romelu Lukaku, without a goal since early March, is at a spread of 16-20.

Last time the 2 sides met, at the tail end of the Mourinho days, Guardiola’s lot won 3-1. A similar result could be in store tonight, with Spreadex offering a Man City/Man United (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 1.1-1.3, a Total Goals spread of 3-3.2, and a feisty Bookings spread of 50-54.