Manchester City v Manchester United: Premier League - live

Jamie Jackson on The Ruben Show

A first United defeat by League Two opposition in the second‑tier cup competition will always be a big deal. But zoom out a smidgeon and the wider picture in the bread and butter of the league was two matches played and a point taken (not great but also no seismic disaster) and United motor across town for Sunday’s 197th derby with four points, one more than Pep Guardiola’s garlanded Manchester City, who are winless since the opening day.

So is it reasonable to consider Amorim’s position under threat three league games into a season? Certifiably not. Is this simply life for the gent in the hottest of football seats? Certainly.

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Preamble

It’s 3 February 1990. No really, folks, it is! FW de Klerk has just announced plans to release Nelson Mandela from prison; Mike Tyson is a week away from pummelling Buster Douglas; Tears on my Pillow, Kylie Minogue’s epic meditation on love, loss and secretion from the lachrymal glands, is being kept off top spot by some Prince knock-off.

And the Manchester derby is taking place at Old Trafford. Seventh-place United and 14th-place City draw 1-1 in a lively contest, with Clayton Blackmore’s excellent goal cancelled out by a screamer from Ian Brightwell.

That was the last time the Manchester derby took place with both teams in the bottom half of the table*. Today’s game is 16th v 11th and, though there are some simple reasons for that – it’s early in the season, they’ve played a game fewer than most of the teams above them – it’s also a reflection of the reduced status of both clubs.

City have lost two of the first three games and the word on the street is that Pep Guardiola is yesterday’s visionary; United are United. To judge a team after a handful of games is absurd, reductive, infantile, pathetic; it’s also the norm.

Woe betide whoever loses today.

Kick off 4.30pm.

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