Man City fans do not need to worry about poor home Manchester derby form as unusual trend shows

To put it bluntly, Manchester City's recent home record against Manchester United is abysmal. But Blues fans need not worry too much.

City have lost four of the past five Manchester derbies played at the Etihad Stadium, with the 3-1 win in November 2018 standing as Pep Guardiola's only home triumph against United since he took charge of the Blues in 2016.

His side team kept a clean sheet against their cross-town rivals at home since 2017 and Nicolas Otamendi - who left the club almost two years ago - was the last City player to score in the fixture on home soil.

However, there are mitigating factors behind the defeats of 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 that should give City fans some optimism that their side will get the job done when United come to Eastlands on Sunday.

The thing is that - pride and bragging rights aside - none of City's home losses to United really mattered that much.

The 3-2 defeat in 2018 that saw City surrender a 2-0 lead - and pass up the historic opportunity to seal the title by beating their old foes - was a painful one, but it only delayed City's crowning as champions by a week.

Guardiola's side were not at full strength that day, with a few key players rested for the Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool. United lost to strugglers West Brom seven days later after the heroic comeback and the title race was over.

City were terrible in the 2-1 loss in December 2019 but, in truth, Liverpool were already clear favourites to win the title. A month later United won the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final 1-0, but City had won the first 2-0.

In March 2021, United won 2-0 to end City's 21-match winning streak. No matter - Guardiola's side were still 11 points clear at the top of the table.

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