Manchester United are going head to head against Manchester City in the Premier League later today, March 7, 2021, at 17:30, and the coach of United, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes that the Manchester derby is a good platform for United to get their spark back.
The Premier League top-of-the-table encounter is seen as a title decider by many who believe that once Manchester City can conquer Manchester United today, no other club can stop them from winning the title.
Manchester City are currently leading the Premier League table with 65 points in 27 games, 14 points away from third-placed Manchester United. This gap is seen as a gap no club can close this season based on the form of Manchester City. Recall that coach Pep Guardiola and his boys are currently enjoying a whopping 21-game-winning-streak in all competitions.
However, their today’s rivals, Manchester United are daring to contend with the table-toppers despite suffering a couple of inconsistencies in their last few league games which forced them down to the third spot.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who knows perfectly well that if Manchester United suffer a defeat in today’s game, the club will remain in the 3rd spot on the league table, 17 points away from Manchester City, said he and his squad know how to play against their Manchester rivals.
“It’s always the perfect game to get everyone going again,” Solskjaer told Sky Sports. “You get tested against a very good team, in form. As a Manchester United player, we know how much this means for our fans.
“For this team, we’ve had some of our best moments against City, away and at home. We’ve seen how we can do it. You’ve got to defend well, and you’ve got to attack well.
“When you walk on to the pitch, and you play a team that is in such a good vein of form, you know that you have to perform.
“The butterflies come into play, you know, the blood is boiling, you’re getting ready, thinking, ‘This is a test for me and this is a challenge’.
“These are the challenges you sign up to when you sign for Man United because you perform in these big games, that’s the next step for us.”
Before Manchester City became an unbeatable team in the Premier League this season, they started the season a bit rough dropping points and rated lowly on the league table. But weeks into the season, City became rejuvenated and unstoppable.
The manager of the club, Pep Guardiola, said he didn’t like the fact that he couldn’t recognize his team in the earlier stage of the season even while winning or losing. Hence, he had to go back to the drawing board to find out why his team was not playing to expectation and applied his coaching principles to get his team back on track.
“It was not just that specific West Brom game. It was the last games before West Brom,” Guardiola told Sky Sports ahead of the club’s game against Manchester United.
“Always I am a spectator – I am a manager but a spectator. I want to enjoy, I want to see my team playing the way the team must play, and I didn’t watch it for a long, long time.
“I lost in Barcelona, I lost in Munich, but always I recognize my team, and in that period, I could not recognize it, I didn’t like it.
“Sometimes we have one or two days to reflect, I talked with my backroom staff, we discussed many things and talked about the process of what to do.
“I said ‘guys, we did it here in England, we did it in Germany and Spain as well, so we just come back to our principles, do what we have to do, and try to do it again.
“There’s no guarantee to win games but at least we’ll be proud, we’ll recognize what we want to be, the way we want to live, and after, it’s one game, another win, the confidence rises, the trust rises and that helps us to be in the position we are.”
PEP 💬 That is consistency. That's how you become a respected club.
— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 6, 2021
You can win one title, but to be there for a long time is what I am proud of most. Not just in my period, in the last decade.
PEP 💬 The nicest thing we have done in the last decade, was every time we won the titles, we are always there.
— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 6, 2021
The lowest position after winning was second. You see other champions fight to qualify for the top four.
