Dion Dublin makes bold Manchester derby prediction with Man Utd, Man City ‘very evenly matched’ | OneFootball

Pundit Dion Dublin has made a bold Manchester derby prediction, with Manchester United backed to beat Manchester City in a thriller.

Man Utd host arch-rivals Man City in the first Manchester derby of the 2026/27 campaign on Sunday afternoon.

This is arguably a bigger game for Man Utd because they only have four points from their first three Premier League games, while Man City have maximum points from their matches.

Despite this, Man City have shown signs of frailties, with it looking like the two Manchester clubs are not too solid defensively.

And Dublin thinks Man Utd will beat Man City 3-2 or 4-2 because Enzo Maresca’s side are weak at the back and generally not as good as their results suggest.

“I think both Manchester clubs are in a similar position this season,” Dublin told Reviant.

“I don’t think Manchester City are going to hit the heights we’ve become used to because they’ve had the backbone of their team ripped out.

“Over the last two years they’ve lost Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson, Bernandro Silva, Pep Guardiola and they’re facing a massive re-jig under a new manager, and it’s a rebuild for them. It really is.

“Of course, they still have so much quality and that geezer up top, Erling Haaland, who will score 30 goals even in a weakened City side.”

Dublin has also explained why this Manchester derby has the potential “to be great and “very evenly matched”.

“It has the potential to be a great Manchester derby, and a very evenly matched one at the moment too because Manchester United have the players too,” Dublin continued.

“Bruno Fernandes will still be bouncing after scoring his hat-trick and the team will be thinking this is the opportunity to show people what we are made of too.

“It’s the same for City. They’ll want to get back to the days of dominating United and the Premier League. So I can’t see this being any thing less than a four or five goal thriller, and I think it’ll fall United’s way whether it’s 3-2, 4-2 or something like that.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of goals because I don’t think either team has it in their lockers at the moment to shut up shop.

“Neither of them are very good at sitting back and not conceding goals and they’ve each got managers who want to play the right way, so I think it’ll be goals, goals, goals!”