Erik ten Hag might surprise Pep Guardiola with brave Manchester United selection

Manchester United have a tendency to surprise Manchester City in the Manchester derby. United have won four and drawn one of the past 10 encounters between the two sides and that is not proportionate to the chasm in quality.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was tactically flawed and yet he still had an outstanding head-to-head record against Pep Guardiola, which bodes well for Erik ten Hag, who is set to meet the Catalan in the Premier League for the first time in less than two weeks. Ten Hag knows Guardiola well from his time working at Bayern Munich II and he's clearly been influenced by him throughout his career.

City have scored the most goals in the Premier League this season and they have 17 points from seven games, despite not being playing their best football. Guardiola's side have shown glimpses of vulnerability, which Erling Haaland has made an afterthought.

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Haaland has 11 goals already this season and he actually looks even better than everyone feared he would be. Haaland is currently making a mockery of the Premier League and Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez will have a huge task to stop him at the Etihad.

City scored four goals against United at the Etihad in March and that was without the world's most prolific centre-forward. Ten Hag will be desperate to avoid defeat in his first derby in charge and thwarting Haaland will be key to achieving that.

Varane and Martinez have been outstanding in central defence, but the back line has been made to look better thanks to the performances of Scott McTominay in recent weeks, who has looked transformed since the arrival of Casemiro from Real Madrid.

It is no secret that competition for places is