Phil Jones refuses to play down the size of Sunday afternoon’s Manchester derby clash, claiming that his side simply must come out on top against their city rivals.
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“I remember when I was in Munich we were always looking for that, but the other team at 1860 Munich didn’t play so well!”
United and City will meet for the 170th time on Sunday.
There were no such excuses for Louis van Gaal’s United, although they came closest to scoring when Anthony Martial, the hosts’ stand-out forward, teed up substitute Jesse Lingard to volley against the bar late on.
But such thrills were in meagre supply throughout 90 minutes contested by two of the most expensively assembled starting XIs in Premier League history, with United failing to register a single shot in the first half for the first time in over a decade.
While United have won 17 of their 23 Premier League home games under Louis van Gaal (D3, L3) – only neighbours City have fared better over the same period, with 18 wins.
“It was a penalty but the referee was not giving us that benefit and of course it is hard to see”, the Dutchman said. They got the new season off to flamboyant start and went on to win their first five games before back-to-back defeats to West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur jolted their campaign.
Arsenal (-1.5 +110) vs. Everton: It should be no surprise to anybody that Arsenal now sits in 2nd place in the EPL standings.
City will be unable to call upon influential duo Sergio Aguero and David Silva due to injuries, but Jones is in no doubt that they have enough quality to make up for their absences.
“Maybe that was one of the reasons for the important reaction of the team and why we won the last six games”.
“We have to score also the three chances, Lingard and Smalling two times”, the 64-year-old said.
“There’s a goal difference, a point difference, and they are first so they are the favourite, I think”.
This was something Sir Alex Ferguson understood implicitly and, quite frankly, so too should Van Gaal after bossing countless fiery local affairs in Holland, Spain and Germany.
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“You have your opinion – write it. I don’t give any more answers about Wayne Rooney”.
“I have to talk every week about Rooney, why?” the United manager said. “We hope we can beat City”.
Ashley Young has bee ruled out with a calf problem, which forced him to miss United’s last two games against Everton and Moscow.
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“I think for the fans it’s very emotional”.
