01 March 2024 , 11:51
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Paul Merson believes that the absence of Rasmus Hojlund gives toothless Manchester United little to no chance in this Sunday's Manchester Derby.
Arsenal hero Merson claims that there'll be "one-way traffic" at the Etihad, with Manchester City the heavy favourites to pile more misery on Erik ten Hag's side. United manager Ten Hag has been without Hojlund for the last week, leaving Marcus Rashford to lead the line in rather feeble fashion.
Only defender Harry Maguire and midfielder Casemiro have scored in the two games since Danish striker Hojlund suffered a muscle injury in training, ruling him out until the middle of March after a red-hot run of eight goals in seven Premier League games. In light of the 21-year-old's absence, Merson has backed City to win 3-0.
"If Rasmus Hojlund was fit, I'd have given Manchester United a chance in this game as the away side would have had a lot of pace in attack with the Danish striker playing alongside Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford," Merson told Sportskeeda.
"Now that Hojlund is out injured, I think it would be one-way traffic in favour of the home side. I actually think Manchester United are going to the Etihad Stadium in damage-limitation mode – so I'm going to be kind and go for a 3-0 home win but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a lot worse."
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Also tipped to win comfortably is Arsenal, who travel to face Sheffield United on Monday having scored 18 goals in their last four top-flight outings to fire themselves back into title contention. "I can't see anything but an Arsenal win here," Merson said, not giving much hope for the Premier League's bottom side.
"After successive defeats to Fulham and West Ham United in late 2023, I thought the Gunners' title challenge would fizzle out, but they've been absolutely magnificent since the turn of the year and are scoring goals for fun!
"Again, I'll stop at three, but I think it could be any scoreline here. Arsenal have a good balance to their team and will look to score early as they have in most of their games in recent weeks."
Your turn! Who'll win the Manchester Derby - City or United? Join the debate in the comments section.
Manchester United's attackers have struggled since Rasmus Hojlund's injury (Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)Elsewhere in the title race, the former midfielder reckons that injury-hit Liverpool will sneak past relegation-battling Nottingham Forest 2-1. "People might say it’s a blessing in disguise for Forest to get knocked out of the FA Cup, but I don't agree with that," Merson argued.
"As far as Liverpool are concerned, they have a lorry load of injuries with a handful of young kids featuring regularly for them, but sooner or later, it might be a game too far for the young lads. This is a hard game, but I think Liverpool could have a bunch of senior players back in the squad for this one, with Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo expected to play some role in this game.
"I doubt Jurgen Klopp will rush his key players back, especially with the Manchester City game [next weekend] on the horizon, but he'll have them on standby in case this game doesn't go as planned.
"Their young players have been outstanding so far, but they can't play against Man City, with all due respect to them, so it remains to be seen how Klopp approaches this game in terms of his selection. Nonetheless, I'm going for a Liverpool win, but this is not going to be straightforward for the Reds."
Paul Merson's Premier League predictions in full
- Brentford 1-2 Chelsea
- Everton 2-1 West Ham
- Fulham 1-1 Brighton
- Newcastle United 3-2 Wolves
- Nottingham Forest 1-2 Liverpool
- Tottenham 3-1 Crystal Palace
- Luton Town 1-2 Aston Villa
- Burnley 1-2 Bournemouth
- Manchester City 3-0 Manchester United
- Sheffield United 0-3 Arsenal