📅 September 11, 2026

Derby 199, 280 Goals to 278: Reading United’s Own Programme Before City

By Mav Jones · Manchester United fan writer

United’s own derby programme prints the number the rivalry turns on (the full history of the fixture, from 1881 to derby 199, is here): after 198 meetings the aggregate score is 280 goals to 278, and United have only led it since January. The game that put them ahead was the 2-0 in Carrick’s first match as head coach. Sunday is number 199 (the confirmed line-ups are here), and if United win it, the programme notes he becomes only the third United manager to win his first two league derbies, after Alf Albut in 1895 and John Bentley in 1913.

Kick-off is 11:30 AM Eastern on Peacock and NBCSN, with Telemundo in Spanish. Here is what the £4 souvenir issue tells you that the previews don’t, with the parts a supporter can use.

Carrick’s notes were written before Sabah, and they say so

“Due to print deadlines, I’m writing this ahead of Thursday night’s Champions League fixture.” So the notes don’t know about the 4-0 and the first clean sheet of the season. What they do say is where he’s putting the weight: “We saw in January, in my first game as head coach, just what a magical place Old Trafford is when there’s this infectious energy across the whole ground.” And on City: “we must focus on playing to our own strengths and using the atmosphere this stadium can create to our advantage.”

The programme’s own line under that is the one to hold onto. United’s form at Old Trafford since Carrick arrived is nine wins in ten games. The home derby record over 86 meetings is 38 wins, 23 draws, 25 defeats.

Maresca’s City, scouted by United’s programme

City are three from three under Enzo Maresca, and the programme’s opposition pages describe the shape in enough detail to be useful. It’s a 4-2-3-1 in name. In possession, Elliot Anderson drops to be the deepest midfielder, Josko Gvardiol inverts from left-back into midfield, and right-back Abdukodir Khusanov tucks inside to make a back three. Both wingers stay high and wide. The other central midfielder, Nico O’Reilly against Palace and Enzo Fernandez against Coventry, pushes into the right half-space between the opposition’s left-back and centre-back, and all of it exists to get Rayan Cherki as close to Erling Haaland as possible.

The numbers on the men who matter, all from the programme: Cherki has 15 goal involvements in his last 21 Premier League starts and two goals plus two assists in three games this season, level with Bruno on four. Anderson, the £115m midfielder from Whitley Bay, made 143 passes against Coventry, more than the whole Coventry team. Haaland has three in his last two league games and two more at Porto on Tuesday, and his header against Coventry was his 20th headed Premier League goal, a City record. Fernandez, the £125m joint British-record signing from Chelsea, made his debut early when O’Reilly was hurt in the warm-up.

The three results: Bournemouth 2-1 from behind with Cherki making both goals off the bench, 4-1 at Palace, then 1-0 against Coventry from Haaland’s 26th-minute header off a Semenyo cross. Maresca after that one: “a bit of an ugly win, but defending long-throw set-pieces is something you need.” City lost the Community Shield to Arsenal, and let Rodri, Reijnders, Savio, Nico Gonzalez, Stones and Bernardo Silva go in the summer.

City’s last league XI (v Coventry, 5 Sep): Donnarumma; Khusanov, Dias, Guehi, Gvardiol; Fernandez, Anderson; Semenyo, Cherki, Ndiaye; Haaland.

Where that shape leaves space

A back three in possession with both full-backs moved inside is compact centrally and light on the outside. When Gvardiol has stepped into midfield and Khusanov has tucked in, the ground behind them belongs to whoever runs into it first, and against Coventry it took a long throw to make City defend it. That is the argument for Mbeumo and Rashford, and it’s the argument the January game already made: Mbeumo opened the scoring in that 2-0, and he has scored in each of United’s last two league games.

Rashford’s fitness decides the other flank, and he’s in the XI we want on Sunday. The programme names him Player of the Match at Everton, says he gave Merlin Röhl “a torrid afternoon”, and confirms he came off at 70 because he “felt a bit of something”. He was on the bench for Sabah and didn’t play. If he starts, it’s his 23rd appearance against City, which would make them his most-faced opponent, and a goal would be his seventh in derbies, level with Paul Scholes and Dennis Viollet. Rooney’s 11 in 25 is the record.

Bruno, filmed limping out of Old Trafford on Thursday night, is the other fitness question, and his derby number is the one City will have on the board: seven goal involvements in his last ten games against them, and it would be eight but for the Community Shield strike in 2024 ruled out for offside.

Maresca’s record at Old Trafford

He’s the 36th man to lead City into a derby and it’s his first, but he has faced United three times with Chelsea: one win, one draw, and a 2-1 defeat here on 20 September 2025, Bruno and Casemiro scoring. Guardiola took charge of 27 derbies, a City record, and won 13 to United’s 10.

Mainoo on the derby, in his own words

The big interview is Kobbie Mainoo, a Stockport Red who scored the winner against City in the 2024 FA Cup final. “Coming up in the Academy, you play City twice a season and it’s always been the biggest game.” His first memory of the fixture is Rooney’s overhead kick, watched “on the TV, in the front room”. On beating them in December 2024 at their place: “it doesn’t feel any less important than the FA Cup final. It’s beating your rivals. It’s always good to have one up on them.”

On Carrick: “Anything that he tells you or any instruction that he gives you is gold, really.” His message for Sunday: “let’s make it noisy!” He is 21, has 105 games and eight goals, and made 15 defensive contributions at Everton, the most on the pitch.

The rest worth knowing

Manuel Ugarte has “started to take his first tentative steps back” at Carrington after the World Cup injury. And the 199th derby is the third home game in a week, the sequence Carrick named on Wednesday and Thursday’s programme described first.

How to watch in the United States

• Kick-off: Sunday 13 September, 11:30 AM Eastern, 8:30 AM Pacific, 4:30 PM in the UK.
• TV and streaming: Peacock and NBCSN, with Telemundo in Spanish. Jon Champion and Graeme Le Saux call it from Old Trafford.
• Confirmed line-ups: about an hour before kick-off, so 10:30 AM Eastern.

Every kick-off is converted to Eastern time on the schedule page, or add the fixtures to your calendar. The full US watch guide covers which service carries which competition.

Source: All programme detail from United Review, Vol 88 Issue 03, Manchester United v Manchester City, 13 September 2026, read directly from the club’s Issuu edition. The 280-278 aggregate and the January 2-0 (Mbeumo, Dorgu) cross-checked against Al Jazeera — Carrick off to perfect start as United beat City 2-0. City’s Coventry win and Fernandez’s early debut from Sky Sports — Man City 1-0 Coventry; the £125m joint-record fee from Sky Sports — Man City sign Enzo Fernandez. Anderson’s £115m fee, Cherki’s and Haaland’s figures and the tactical description are the programme’s. US broadcast from NBC Sports’ press release. Accurate as of 11 September 2026; team news follows Carrick’s press conference.