Amorim told the three players he ‘must’ utilise if he ‘wants to win’; they can ‘expose’ struggling City

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·14. Dezember 2024

Amorim told the three players he ‘must’ utilise if he ‘wants to win’; they can ‘expose’ struggling City

Paul Merson believes there are three players Ruben Amorim can utilise in Sunday’s Manchester derby to expose the hosts at the Etihad.

All in all, the pundit’s suggestions will fall on deaf ears, but Amorim certainly has some pivotal calls to make heading into the contest.

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Manchester United sit 13th-placed prior to gameweek 16, with Manchester City far away from their usual comforts atop the table by occupying fourth place. Eight points separate them and leaders Liverpool, which is also the gap between the cross-city rivals.

Pep Guardiola has endured the most turbulent form of his managerial career in the last couple of months, having won only one match in City’s previous ten games. The victory came against Nottingham Forest last week, and, in that time, they’ve sustained defeats to Tottenham Hotspur (4-0), Liverpool (2-0), Bournemouth (2-1) and Sporting Lisbon (4-1), the latter coming courtesy of Amorim in his final home fixture at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.

On the other hand, United haven’t covered themselves in glory with their recent results, either. Amorim has faced a brutal wake-up call since making his transition over to the Premier League and is now at risk of suffering three successive league defeats if the Reds fail to win come Sunday evening.

Amorim ‘must’ deploy prolific trio to ‘hurt’ City on Sunday, says Merson

(Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

Previewing the high-stakes affair in his Sportskeeda column, Merson said: “This has not been Manchester City’s biggest game of the season for the last few years – the Liverpool and Arsenal clashes have been bigger. But with how they are playing now, this fixture has suddenly become very, very important.

“If Manchester City were a book and you were reading about them winning the Champions League, going on incredible runs and then suddenly you turn to this new chapter where they have just one win in 10 games while losing seven of them, you’d be throwing that book in the ocean! We never thought this would be possible. It has never happened before. We’ve all seen City before, and if they were a goal down with just 20 minutes left to play, we would still back them to win. But that’s not the case with them anymore.

“Manchester United are 13th in the league now. They failed to even lay a glove on Arsenal, and losing at home to Nottingham Forest after that was a stinker. After this game, they face Tottenham in the EFL Cup quarter-final, and that’s another big clash for them.

“If Ruben Amorim wants to win this game, he must opt for a front-three with the likes of Amad Diallo, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho. Everybody is exposing City through counter-attacks, and this trio can hurt them with their pace.”

The ex-Gunner added: “Like I said, if United can hurt City with pace, they have a chance in this game. They must not sit back and go into a shell while trying to defend themselves all the time. They must take the game to their rivals. I still think City hold the edge here, though.”

His scoreline prediction = Manchester City 2-1 Manchester United.