If it’s an omen that Jose Mourinho is after, he should cast his mind back to 12 December 2011 when Manchester City travelled to Chelsea guarding an unbeaten record in that season’s Premier League.
They lost 2-1, a result that the now Manchester United manager would dearly love to emulate when his side host their neighbours on Sunday, almost six years to the day since Chelsea burst the Sky Blues’s bubble.
The majority of the country’s neutrals will be hoping for a United victory at Old Trafford on Sunday; nothing against City, who have entertained us all with their football this season, but should they win again, their lead at the top of the table would stretch to 11 points.
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That’s a dizzying distance in front of the chasing pack, enough of a gap to fear the second half of the season might be a tedious one-horse race, the drama found further down the field amid the fight for Champions League places.
A United win would narrow City’s lead to five points and renew hope among the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham that the Sky Blues can be reeled in next year.
United will go into the Manchester derby feeling good about themselves, not just because of Mourinho’s record of winning the league in his second season at a club, as he has done at Porto, Chelsea (twice), Inter Milan and Real Madrid.
United’s last defeat in the league was a 1-0 loss to Chelsea on 5 November. Since then they’ve put four goals past both Newcastle and Watford. Last week they beat Arsenal 3-1 at the Emirates.
City, in contrast, have kept on winning but not with the confidence of the autumn. Late goals have been required to get past Huddersfield, Southampton and West Ham. Wednesday’s defeat to Spartak Moscow was their first reverse in 29 matches.
Perhaps the schedule is getting to their bodies, or maybe it’s the statistics playing on their minds, such as the one that a new Premier League record will be set on Sunday should they win a 14th Premier League game in a row.
Writing in The Guardian, football author and historian Jonathan Wilson explains why City have struggled in recent matches.
Teams, he says, have now developed a strategy when playing City, which is to sit deep “and limit the space Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane have to accelerate into”.
Mourinho has shown on many previous occasions that he isn’t averse to sending his teams out with instructions to sit deep and crowd the midfield.
Then again, it was assumed he would ‘park the bus’ at the Emirates last week against Arsenal, but United’s aggressive and adventurous early approach unsettled the Gunners, who were two down after 12 minutes.
United are on a goalscoring roll at the moment. Although the suspended Paul Pogba will be missed on Sunday, Wilson believes Mourinho will use Romelu Lukaku’s strength in the air to provide opportunities for Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard.
But he predicts that Sunday’s encounter will be decided on “how well United are able to resist City’s endless waves of attack. And on that might rest the next three to four years of English football”.
Even if United do emulate Chelsea and bring City’s unbeaten streak to an end, it’s worth remembering that the Sky Blues still went on to win the title in 2011-12.
How to watch the Utd vs. City Manchester derby on TV
Sunday’s big match at Old Trafford kicks off at 4.30pm and will be shown live on Sky Sports.
This weekend’s Premier League fixtures
Tomorrow’s Premier League fixtures (3pm unless stated)
Sunday’s Premier League fixtures
