It had been assumed by pretty much everybody that Manchester City would saunter to a win over Southampton in the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
Instead Pep Guardiola’s side blew it, with the manager losing his first ever domestic cup quarter-final.
It’s good news for Manchester United, with City out of the equation in the Carabao Cup, and Erik ten Hag‘s side have a really good chance of winning the competition.
In the short-term it is a positive with City visiting Old Trafford this weekend, they are wobbling at the right time, from United’s perspective.
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Manchester City weakness exposed
City trounced United earlier in the season, winning 6-3 at The Etihad in a game which was a freak result from a Red Devils perspective.
Guardiola’s side are not so free scoring right now, especially on their travels, while United’s defence has been tightening up.
A weakness of the current City side was exposed in their defeat… a struggle to score goals away from home.
In Manchester City’s last seven away fixtures in all competitions, they have scored only six goals.
Three of these goals came in one game, away at Leeds. In the remaining six games, they have scored just once in half of them, and failed to score in the other three.
Last night they drew a blank against Southampton, losing 2-0, failing to land a single shot on target, even with throwing Erling Haaland on in the 56th minute.
This will undoubtedly be a concern to Guardiola against a Manchester United side which have not conceded a Premier League goal at Old Trafford since the 3-1 win over Arsenal in early September.
The World Cup break certainly makes this run sound particularly lengthy, but it is a strong record all the same, spanning seven consecutive Premier League home games with a clean sheet.
With a side as talented as City visiting, form can go out of the window, it’s a derby game, they are well capable of scoring a hatful.
It’s not happening regularly right now though. If City were steamrollering teams like they have done in the past, then United’s clean sheet run would almost certainly be wiped out this weekend.
But with their away form faltering, and United looking stronger than anybody could have dared imagine a few months ago, there is a very real chance that Ten Hag’s side are able to keep another clean sheet on the way to collecting all three points.
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