📅 September 13, 2026

Derby 199 Confirmed Line-ups: Shaw Not in the Squad, Dorgu Starts, Sesko on the Bench, Foden In for City

By Mav Jones · Manchester United fan writer

Team sheets are in at Old Trafford for the 199th Manchester derby. Luke Shaw isn’t in the squad, not even among the substitutes, so Patrick Dorgu plays left-back. Matheus Cunha starts up front and Benjamin Sesko is on the bench three days after scoring on his first start. Marcus Rashford starts on the left. It’s one change from the side that started at Everton, and it’s forced. United (4-2-3-1): Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, Martinez, Dorgu; Tielemans, Mainoo; Mbeumo, Fernandes, Rashford; Cunha. Bench: Darlow, Heaven, Mazraoui, Yoro, Santos, Mount, Lacey, Sesko, Zirkzee.

City (4-2-3-1): Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Guehi, Gvardiol; Enzo Fernandez, Anderson; Foden, Cherki, Semenyo; Haaland. Bench: Rulli, Vitor Reis, O’Reilly, Khusanov, Rico Lewis, Ndiaye, Kovacic, Bouaddi, Allan. Jeremy Doku is out with the calf injury. Michael Oliver is the referee. Kick-off 11:30 AM Eastern on Peacock, NBC Sports Network and Telemundo.

Shaw out, Dorgu in, and the club still hasn’t said why

Shaw missed Thursday’s squad after what Carrick called a “recovery day”, was listed as a doubt on Friday with a cramp issue the club “didn’t want to take any risks” with, and isn’t in the 20 today. That’s two games running without a player who started the first three, and today would have been his 300th Premier League appearance. Dorgu steps in for his first derby start. His cut-back for the opening goal on Thursday was the first assist by a United left-back this season, and the man on his side of the pitch now is Phil Foden, not Kaheem Parris.

The rest of the back four is the league four. Dalot, rested on Thursday, returns at right-back with Mazraoui on the bench; Maguire comes back in for Yoro next to Martinez. That’s the call we made in the XI we wanted this morning, for the reason we gave: Haaland’s header against Coventry was his 20th headed Premier League goal, a City record, and Maguire and Martinez are the pair for that. Six conceded in three league games with these four is the number they’re carrying into it.

Cunha over Sesko, which is the one call we’d argue with

Sesko scored on Thursday, ran the channels for 64 minutes and looked fit. He’s on the bench. Cunha, who scored the opener on Thursday from Dorgu’s cut-back, starts through the middle with Rashford on the left, which is the Everton front four intact: Mbeumo, Fernandes, Rashford, Cunha. Read it as Carrick trusting the four that produced a point at Everton and keeping Sesko’s legs for the last half hour against a City back line that will have been chasing Rashford and Mbeumo for an hour. We’d have started Sesko. Carrick has nine wins in ten at Old Trafford, so he’s earned the benefit of the doubt on selection.

Rashford starts, which answers the fitness question from Everton. It’s his 23rd game against City, which makes them his most-faced opponent, and a goal would be his seventh in derbies, level with Scholes and Viollet. Bruno starts, which answers the limping video. Seven goal involvements in his last ten against City, four goals this season. Tielemans and Mainoo keep the double pivot; Santos and Mount are the changes from the bench.

The academy run goes on. Mainoo starts, and Shea Lacey and Ayden Heaven are among the substitutes, so the sequence of a graduate in every matchday squad since 1937 reaches the derby with three. Amad, Baleba, Ugarte and Heaton are the absentees the club has explained; de Ligt isn’t in the squad either.

City: Foden in, Nunes at right-back, Doku out

Two changes from the side that beat Coventry 1-0. Matheus Nunes starts at right-back with Abdukodir Khusanov on the bench, and Phil Foden comes in on the right for Iliman Ndiaye. Doku’s calf keeps him out. Enzo Fernandez, the £125m joint British-record signing who made his debut early against Coventry when Nico O’Reilly was hurt in the warm-up, starts his first derby next to Elliot Anderson, whose 143 passes against Coventry were more than the whole Coventry team managed. O’Reilly is fit enough for the bench.

The shape question is the one the programme set up. Against Coventry, Anderson dropped deepest, Gvardiol inverted from left-back and Khusanov tucked in to make a back three, all of it to get Rayan Cherki close to Haaland. Nunes at right-back is a different player from Khusanov, a converted midfielder rather than a centre-back, so watch whether he inverts too or stays wide. Either way the ground behind Gvardiol when he steps inside is where Mbeumo lives, and the ground behind Nunes is Rashford’s. Semenyo on City’s left against Dalot is the other duel: he set up Haaland’s winner against Coventry.

Haaland has five goals in four games and 300 for his clubs. Cherki has 15 goal involvements in his last 21 Premier League starts. It’s Enzo Maresca’s first derby as City manager, the 36th man to lead them into one. Guardiola took charge of 27, a City record, and won 13.

What’s at stake in the numbers

After 198 meetings the aggregate is 280 goals to 278 in United’s favour, a lead that dates from January’s 2-0 in Carrick’s first game. A win today makes him only the third United manager to win his first two league derbies, after Alf Albut in 1895 and John Bentley in 1913. City are top on nine points from three; United are 11th on four. Opta gives City 44.2% and United 31.6%. The full history of the fixture is here if you want the 145 years behind this afternoon.

How to watch in the United States

• Kick-off: Sunday 13 September, 11:30 AM Eastern, 8:30 AM Pacific.
• TV and streaming: Peacock, NBC Sports Network, and Telemundo in Spanish. Jon Champion and Graeme Le Saux on the call.
• Every kick-off is in Eastern time on the schedule page, and the US watch guide covers the rest of the season. Match report: United 0-1 City, 67 minutes against ten men.

Sources: Line-ups, benches and absentees from SofaScore’s confirmed match feed for the fixture, cross-checked against WhoScored’s confirmed line-ups page (which refuses automated fetches and so is not linked) and 101 Great Goals — confirmed line-ups and team news. Shaw’s status and Carrick’s quotes from Friday’s press conference as reported in our Bruno piece and by Yahoo Sports. City’s Coventry shape, Anderson’s passes, Cherki’s and Haaland’s figures, the aggregate and the Albut/Bentley note from United’s derby programme (United Review, 13 September 2026). Opta probabilities via Al Jazeera. US broadcast from NBC Sports. Published before kick-off, 13 September 2026.