Three Things To Expect As Manchester United Play City

Every game in a close season is tagged a friendly game, but don't be fooled, there's no 'friendliness' whatsoever when Jose Mourinho comes up against his old foe Pep Guardiola. These are the things you may want to be on the lookout for as Manchester's two biggest clubs lock horn in another continent.

A Template For Things To Come

These two clubs played each other three times last season, and the result was W1 D1 L1 apiece. Testament to the fact that Mourinho and Guardiola know themselves only too well. The 2016/17 season is in the past now and there are fresh signings for both camps, this game would serve as trailer for the Manchester Derby next season. The fact that this is not a title decider will actually prompt wholesale changes by halftime (this is my guess), but the first half is going to be a real workout for the players. Pre-season results might easily be forgotten by the neutrals and the fans, but no one in the Football World today values psychological advantage more than Jose Mourinho. While the game's outcome would mean nothing the observer behind the screen, a whole lot will be going on in the minds of the managers. The signings this summer are far from over but this encounter will surely set up a tone to be followed by these two giants when the Premier League kicks off in 22 days time. Manchester Unuted have the UEFA Super Cup against Real Madrid to deal with before their season opener against West Ham on the 13th of August while City travel to newly promoted Brighton Hove Albion a day before. This match can easily be classified as a 'trailer'.

How Many More Signings?

The answer to the question above lies in the 90 minutes ahead. Pep Guardiola has made it clear that there are three or four more signings yet before he wraps up business in this transfer window, Jose Mouriho on the other hand has not taken his foot of the pedal in his quest to bring both Ivan Perisic and Nemanja Matic to Old Trafford but this game could be an eye opener to the managers and fans alike, the reality could be that there are much more players who are needed to 'salvage' the situation at Manchester United OR Jose might smell satisfaction in his squad and become laid back about current player pursuits. At The Etihad the memo is in unwritten but surely Pep can 'sense' what the handwriting on the wall could be if City end the season without winning the League. This game offers the chance for the Spaniard to assess how close or how far the citizens are prepared to challenge for the title.

Litmus Test For The Big Signings

Talking about psychological warfare, Jose Mourinho recently expressed his surprise at the amount Manchester City paid for Kyle Walker, stressing the fact that clubs should know the difference between big players, just good players and normal players. Simply put the Portuguese doesn't think Walker was worth the amount he was signed for. Well this is 2017 and Mourinho has his own accusers too who think both Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku are actually worth much less than they were signed, but then again who are we to judge. The test starts now. The new signings have it all to prove and judgement starts from the moment you put on the shirt of your new employers no matter the side you play and who cares if it's 'just a friendly'? This fixture was also scheduled to hold last year but a bad pitch ruined such plans, this time around we await a teaser and an exciting 90 minutes.

Probable Starting Line Ups 

Manchester United

David De Gea, Antonio Valencia, Victor Lindelof, Eric Bailly, Daley Blind, Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Romelu Lukaku (now or never).

Manchester City

Ederson, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi, Aleksandr Kolarov (I thought he was gone 👀) , Yaya Toure, David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus, Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero (tormentor-in-chief)

Time : 3 am, Friday.