Erik ten Hag may be forced into creative solution to Manchester United injury problem vs Man City

There may be optimism at Manchester United but there's a grey cloud looming ahead of their long-awaited return to action.

United are finally back competing in the Premier League on Sunday after nearly a month off but there will be no gentle easing back into things. Oh no. Their first game back will be against Manchester City. In recent years the prospect of the Manchester derby has become a daunting one, even more so after last season's two complete surrenders to their fierce rivals.

Not this time though. For the first time in a long time, United actually have cause to be a little hopeful that a positive result against the neighbours could be possible. Before the disruption, Erik ten Hag had turned his side around and begun a fine run of form. Four wins in succession, two of them coming against old foes Liverpool and Arsenal.

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While City in the meanwhile have remained undefeated in all competitions and increased their firepower tenfold with the addition of Erling Haaland, there does seem to be a newfound fragility to them. They've conceded more goals than Brighton and the same as Everton this season and have had to rescue points on three occasions after falling behind. That, of course, shows they're now much better at fighting adversity than they once were but the fact they're having to do it so much already must concern Pep Guardiola. They can be vulnerable and can be exploited.

United have shown already that they can be really damaging to teams on the counter, thanks to Christian Eriksen's accurate and pacey passing in the transition and the lightning speed up front. The Blues' biggest weakness is teams breaking their press and getting in being them