Manchester United players ‘excited’ for the derby, says Victor Lindelof

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Victor Lindelof has told Manchester United’s club website the players are excited for this weekend’s derby.

United face Manchester City at the Etihad, looking to follow up last year’s 2-0 win and make a statement.

Sweden international Lindelof said: “It’s a massive game and you always want to play in the biggest games, so I think everyone is very, very excited for that game.

“Right now we’re just trying to prepare in the best way possible. Hopefully we can go out there and perform well. When it’s a derby, you always want to win and perform well.

“We’ve done it before and we know we have the quality as a team to beat them.

“Like I said, if we prepare well and we follow the game plan I think we have every possibility to get another three points against them away. It’s going to be a tough game, but hopefully, we can do that.”

Fans may not be as ‘excited’

Fresher in the minds of most United supporters is the horror show United endured at home to City in the last match between the two sides back in November.

Following a 5-0 home defeat against Liverpool, the previous match at Old Trafford before the derby, United’s players and manager had vowed an improvement. Instead it was one of the darkest days of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign, and further confirmed he was running out of steam.

United were beaten 2-0, but the performance was more reflective of a 5-0. United had just one shot at goal and some home supporters left the stadium at half-time.

That was a depressing afternoon and City have the capability to do it again – but United are under new management now, with interim Ralf Rangnick set to take on his first and potentially last Manchester derby, and he will want to make it count.

Rangnick has made United more resilient, helped the team have better control of matches in midfield at times, but the players have lacked a cutting edge.

Against City, United likely won’t have 20 to 30 shots at goal to waste. The opportunities the players do get, they will have to seize and be more clinical.

The players have had a full week on the training ground between matches and hopefully this will have had a positive effect heading into Sunday’s clash.