How Will Manchester United and Manchester City Fare When They Meet in September?

Manchester United and Manchester City were supposed to serve up an appetiser for the forthcoming season in Beijing on Monday. Unfortunately, due to a rain-damaged pitch at the iconic Bird's Nest stadium in China's capital, the game was cancelled.

Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola will have to wait until 12:30 p.m. BST on 10 September to resume old acquaintances.

There is a lot of room for speculation about how things will look by the time they do. What might the two XIs look like? Will either manager have been able to stamp his character on his team by then? Will one have an advantage over the other in terms of hitting the ground running?

The competitiveness of the Premier League is such that plenty of tests await Mourinho and Guardiola in their first three matches of the campaign, before they meet each other.

City play Sunderland and West Ham United at home and travel to Stoke City. United make the long trip to Bournemouth, play Southampton at home and then travel to Hull City before receiving their neighbours' visit.

All of those games will contain their own unique challenges, and with the way the last few seasons have gone for both Manchester clubs, they will be delighted to get nine points from their opening three encounters—indeed six or seven points would be par.

But their fourth league game, when they face off at Old Trafford, will be the first truly mouthwatering clash for either side.

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City versus United is always, of course, one of the games both sets of fans look for. Since the investment kicked in at City, it has been of significant interest to neutrals too—especially when United were still competing for titles under Sir Alex Ferguson.

The last few seasons have seen the sheen come off the non-partisan appeal of the game as United in particular have struggled.

This time, however—at least for the days around the game—it will be the biggest story in world football.

Much has been and will continue to be written about the Mourinho-Guardiola rivalry. Xabi Alonso, a man who has played for both, said ahead of the cancelled game, per Sky Sports:

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It is going to be very exciting to watch them, especially in the same city now. It is a challenge for both to be against each other. I am definitely going to be watching it from here and keeping my eye on what is happening.

I had the privilege of working with both of them and I have a great relationship with them. There is a lot of hype around them. That is what they come to expect because they are big coaches in difficult jobs which brings a lot pressure.

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That hype will reach fever pitch by lunchtime in Manchester on 10 September. A reasonable guess at a United XI (injuries and the transfer market permitting) could be:

There are a couple of working theses behind that XI.

The first is that Paul Pogba will indeed end up at Old Trafford. That is, of course, far from official as yet. Alan Smith and Fabrizio Romano reported for the Guardian on Sunday:

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Manchester United have submitted an increased bid of £92m (€110m) plus a further €10m in add-ons to sign Paul Pogba in a world-record move, but negotiations with Juventus continue as the Serie A champions attempt to extract the best possible financial deal. Juve are seeking an additional €10m and have informed United that their €95m signing of Gonzalo Higuaín from Napoli does not mean they will be forced to sell Pogba.

"

Much could still happen. Pogba could remain at Juventus or an alternative suitor—Real Madrid, for example—could sweep in and sign him up. However, it is clear from the reporting around this summer's most covered transfer saga that a move to United is at least on the cards.

Assuming he is in situ at Old Trafford by then, he will be the only midfielder in United's setup guaranteed a start in this fixture.

We will have a much clearer understanding about whom Mourinho will use alongside the Frenchman—if he comes—by the time this game rolls around.

For now, Michael Carrick seems a decent guess. He offers experience, passing and a fine ability to read the game. He has obvious physical limitations, but if he is in decent form and has a good level of fitness, his nous will serve better than, say, Morgan Schneiderlin's physicality.

There are a number of other options, Ander Herrera and Bastian Schweinsteiger, for example, but Carrick gets the nod on the strength of his experience and understanding of this fixture. He has been at United a long time, so he knows what the derby means. Having some of that spirit around is no bad thing.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

The second working theory here is that Matteo Darmian will be United's first-choice right-back. That is far from certain, but Mourinho expressed a preference for specialists in his first press conference at the club, and Darmian is the only specialist right-back on offer.

Antonio Valencia and Timothy Fosu-Mensah are the other options but are both multifunctional players.

The third working theory is based on Jamie Jackson's report in the Guardian that Phil Jones and Chris Smalling "have been informed they start the term as the first-choice pairing."

The fourth is that Wayne Rooney will still be in the first-team setup at No. 10 by then. Based on Rooney's last few campaigns, it is very easy to envisage Mourinho looking for alternative options as the season progresses, but by 10 September, the club captain should still have his spot.

Associated Press

It is also, of course, possible that Mourinho will go super defensive for this one, strengthening the midfield by playing, say, Herrera over Rooney in a 4-5-1 rather than a 4-2-3-1. If he does, he might even spring a surprise by playing Marcus Rashford to maximise the Red Devils' counter-attacking potential.

As for City, Bleacher Report's Manchester City correspondent, Rob Pollard, suggests the following XI:

Neither John Stones nor Leroy Sane are City players yet, of course, but both "remain in Guardiola's sights," per Chris Slater and Simon Bajkowski of the Manchester Evening News.

Of course, even if City do bring those players to the Etihad, there is no guarantee of how Guardiola will use them.

As Pollard says, "It's very difficult to say at this stage what team he'll play—but something tells me Guardiola will outwit us all. Three at the back? Fernandinho at centre-half? [Fabian] Delph at left-back? It's impossible to say what system he will play, let alone which players he will choose. He prides himself on outmanoeuvring opposition managers and loves versatility."

This unpredictability perhaps means this fixture's timing benefits Mourinho. After all, unlike Guardiola, he has vast Premier League experience. And his methods are less all-encompassing, less fundamental than Guardiola's.

Guardiola will teach City's players a whole new style of football. Mourinho does not have the same type of work to do.

In the long run, the eventual winner in this battle is pretty unclear, but Mourinho probably has a head start, and that could tell in September.

As a matter of trivial interest, since taking over Porto in 2002, Jose Mourinho has only once failed to win his fourth league game in charge of a new club—the fourth league game in his second spell at Chelsea saw the Blues lose 1-0 at Goodison Park.

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Guardiola won his fourth league game in charge of Barcelona 6-1, having previously drawn with Racing and lost 1-0 to Numancia in a spell that no doubt caused some nerves among supporters.

At Bayern Munich, his fourth league game in charge was a 1-1 draw with Freiburg, though they won both the opening three and the three games that followed that draw.

But City is a very different kind of challenge. Barcelona were equipped with some of the planet's best and best-taught players. Bayern had won the treble the prior season. Mourinho's career has taken in a wider variety of challenges, though returning United to their former glory might yet be his biggest since Porto's UEFA Champions League win.

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Of course, none of this will be settled when the two sides meet in September, just as nothing would have been settled in the Bird's Nest. But it will be an indicative marker for the initial impact made by both managers.

Whatever happens, having to wait a little over a month longer than expected to see Mourinho and Guardiola's sides go at it will only add to the hype and expectation. Old Trafford will be absolutely buzzing on 10 September.

For fans of both sides around the world, it is a game that cannot arrive soon enough.

Results data per SoccerBase. Quotations obtained firsthand where not otherwise stated.