Mikael Silvestre says four Man United players could be “decisive” vs Man City

Former Manchester United defender Mikaël Silvestre has highlighted four players he believes could allow United to beat Manchester City this Sunday.

With the Red Devils travelling to face a Manchester City team that has not lost at home since the latter half of 2022, the odds are very much not in United’s favour.

The defending Premier League champions are unbeaten in 2024, having last lost to Aston Villa back in December of last year.

Despite this, United manager Erik ten Hag will know what it takes to beat City, with United getting the best of the Citizens at Old Trafford last year thanks to goals from Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford.

Both of those players are amongst the four that former United defender Silvestre has highlighted as having the potential to win the contest against United’s inner-city rivals on Sunday.

“Clearly the odds are in favour of Manchester City,” Stated Silvestre. “I’m not even talking about the defeat to Fulham but with the amount of injuries, it’s a tough ask to go and do it (at the Etihad).”

“City have lost games this season. They’re not going to lose many more and United won’t have many chances in the game. They’ll have to take every chance that they get.”

“It will be a difficult game, with a lot of defending and running after the ball. And it’s clearly in favour of the City.”

“More than ever, this is going to be a collective effort to grab the three points. You expect your [Marcus] Rashfords, your Brunos [Fernandes] to create chances. In the decisive moments, [Alejandro] Garnacho or Harry Maguire on a set-piece, can step up.”

“So, it’s not like the team is lacking weapons. It’s a fair fight as it’s 11v11 but right now, City are clearly more dominant than United.”

The four names highlighted by Silvestre have produced a combined 26 Premier League goal contributions for United so far this season.