Pep Guardiola suggests “ridiculous” Manchester City game plan for the Manchester United fixture

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has suggested that he is working on a ridiculous game plan for the fixture against Manchester United next weekend.

The Red Devils will take on the defending Premier League champions on 14 January at home. In the previous fixture, the Sky Blues beat the Old Trafford side 6-3.

Speaking to the media via Metro ahead of the Manchester derby, Guardiola revealed that he had some interesting tactics he is working on to get the better of Erik ten Hag’s team on Saturday.

“I would like to arrive against United with the average of minutes in the legs of the players quite similar because I have a few ideas, thoughts, ridiculous ones against United.”

Currently, City are sitting in second place in the league table, four points behind table toppers Arsenal. They will evidently be hoping to get the better of us in order to close that gap.

The Sky Blues have had a few hiccups in recent fixtures. Against Everton, the Cityzens were unable to break the Goodison Park side’s defence on too many occasions and had to share a point in a 1-1 draw.

Also, in the first half against Chelsea in City’s previous match, the Sky Blues struggled to create many chances. In the end, Guardiola’s team scraped a 1-0 win over the Blues.

Going into the fixture, United have been in fine form. We are on an eight-game win streak in all competitions. Under Erik ten Hag, the Red Devils have won 20 of the 27 games the Dutch manager has taken charge of.

In the league, the Old Trafford side have kept a clean sheet in the last three matches. This has been despite the preferred partnership of Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez not getting a chance to play together since the season resumed after the 2022 World Cup.

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Up front, Marcus Rashford has been in fine form. The 25-year-old has found the back of the net in his last eight fixtures at home. Ten Hag has shown tactical astuteness over the months. While Guardiola is a strategic master himself, it will be interesting to see how the Dutch manager intends to get the better of the Spaniard.