Jamie Carragher and Roy Keane disagree on Manchester derby predictions

The Manchester derby will be centre of attention on Sunday, with two teams struggling for form meeting at the Etihad.

Manchester City started their Premier League campaign with a resounding win over Wolves and everything looked rosy for Pep Guardiola, but that has been followed by back-to-back defeats to Spurs and Brighton.

Manchester United are above their local rivals in the early Premier League table, but it has been a tough start for them too.

An opening weekend defeat to Arsenal was followed by a draw at Fulham and then an injury time 3-2 victory over Burnley last time out.

Embarrassingly for the Red Devils, in among those Premier League results was a Carabao Cup exit at the hands of League Two Grimsby.

It all adds up to an intriguing Manchester derby on Sunday afternoon, with City really needing to avoid another loss if they are to mount a title challenge this season.

Ruben Amorim’s men will be looking to build on any sort of momentum they picked up in the narrow victory over the Clarets, but will head across Manchester as underdogs.

Keane and Carragher make their predictions

Speaking on Stick to Football, the panel were making their Super 6 predictions for the coming weekend and came out with different guesses for the fixture at the Etihad.

Jamie Carragher shouted down his teammate Gary Neville and opted for a home win, predicting a 3-1 victory for Manchester City.

On the other side of the table, the team of Keane, Ian Wright and Jill Scott debated the result, with Wright leaning towards a United victory, but Keane ultimately plumping for a 1-1 draw.

Shearer feels Man City are vulnerable

Last season was poor by Manchester City’s standards as they relinquished their Premier League title and ultimately finished third behind Liverpool and Arsenal.

After two defeats in their opening three games this season, Alan Shearer feels other teams are no longer afraid of Guardiola’s side.

‘I wouldn’t say Pep has lost his touch, but I’d say his team have lost that rhythm of winning,’ Shearer told Betfair. ‘There’s no doubt that last season has hurt and damaged them and they’re easier to get through than they were two seasons ago.

‘We saw what the injury to Rodri did to them last year and there’s no doubt their confidence took a hit. I also think that the fear factor may have gone because of what happened last year.

‘Teams have realised that they’re not unbeatable, they can win if they attack Man City, you can score goals if you have the belief that you can take them on.

‘Maybe 18 months ago, teams were scared of City, reluctant to go at them and prepared to sit deep and soak up pressure.

‘Now, teams believe that they can go up against Man City and beat them.’

Despite that, the Newcastle legend is still backing Guardiola to pull off results this season, although not regain the Premier League title.

‘I haven’t changed my mind in terms of who the top four will be,’ he said. ‘I still think it’ll be Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea. I think it’s only a matter of time before Man City get back to winning ways.’