the international break is always a strange time for football fans, a pause in the premier league that feels more like a trap than a blessing. players leave their clubs, travel thousands of miles, put their bodies on the line for their countries, and return either exhausted, injured, or carrying the weight of disappointment. and now, as the dust begins to settle ahead of the return of domestic action, both halves of manchester find themselves in the same position: nervous, uncertain, and frustrated.
sunday’s manchester derby at the etihad was already shaping up to be a tense affair. both man city and man united have stumbled through the opening weeks of the season. pep guardiola’s team, usually ruthless and cold in their efficiency, suddenly look fragile, losing back-to-back games against tottenham and brighton. meanwhile, ruben amorim, newly at the helm of manchester united, has been battling to steady a ship that has rocked for far too long. his side finally scraped their first win of the season against burnley, but even that came at a cost, with two players hobbling off injured.
and so here we are: the biggest fixture of the early season, and potentially 13 players across the two sides are facing injury doubts.
the headline story is omar marmoush. city’s egyptian forward had only just begun to carve out a role under guardiola, starting the last two matches and linking up with mohamed salah for egypt during the break. but in the ninth minute of a world cup qualifier against burkina faso, disaster struck. marmoush, full of running, collided heavily with a defender. he tried to soldier on, even after receiving treatment, but within minutes he was down again. the egyptian fa’s social media confirmed the worst: bruised knee ligament. city’s own medical team ran scans and quickly announced he would miss the derby.
for guardiola, this is a huge blow. marmoush may not yet be a superstar at the etihad, but his energy and movement had given city a new option in attack. now, not only is he missing, but the frontline is threadbare. rayan cherki, the summer signing from lyon, was already ruled out for two months with a thigh injury picked up before the break. phil foden, mysteriously absent from the squad against brighton, remains a doubt. savinho, another exciting young winger, is also touch and go.
suddenly, a club renowned for its depth looks strangely stretched. guardiola is left scratching his head, waiting for news, calculating how he can build a forward line from what remains.
united are no better off. amorim may have celebrated his first premier league win, but he also watched in horror as players limped off. casemiro, the warrior in midfield, is battling ongoing fitness issues. mason mount and diogo dalot both picked up knocks. the derby, always a battlefield, may now be fought without some of the generals.
it is no wonder that fans on both sides are anxious. derbies are about pride, about momentum, about sending a message. but how can either team send a message when they are limping to the starting line?
the frustration goes deeper than just this one game. city’s fans have grown restless after the defeats to spurs and brighton. they have watched their team surrender leads, look vulnerable, and now they see half the squad in the treatment room. for united fans, this was meant to be a fresh start under amorim, but injuries have already complicated his attempts to build cohesion.
and then there is the added spice: both sides know that the premier league table does not wait. city are already six points behind liverpool. another slip in the derby could leave them staring at a mountain. united, still trying to shake off years of mediocrity, cannot afford to fall into another early slump. the pressure on sunday will be immense, even if half the stars are watching from the stands.
for guardiola, there is a cruel irony. the man who is obsessed with control, with precision, with planning every detail, now finds himself at the mercy of fate. he has spent the international break plotting, scheming, trying to fix the flaws exposed by spurs and brighton. but football does not care about plans. one heavy collision in ouagadougou, one mistimed challenge in training, and everything changes.
for amorim, still new to english football, this is a brutal introduction. he knows that the derby can define managers in manchester. win, and you buy yourself months of goodwill. lose, and the knives come out. to walk into that with a squad battered by injuries is the kind of challenge no manager envies.
the supporters, meanwhile, will do what supporters always do: cling to hope, search for positives. maybe foden will be fit. maybe savinho makes it back. maybe rashford finds form. maybe haaland, who has been oddly subdued so far, delivers the kind of performance that silences doubt.
but there is also fear. fear that the derby, instead of being a clash of titans, will be a cagey, scrappy affair decided by who has the least injuries rather than who has the most talent. fear that another defeat could send city into crisis. fear that united, still fragile, could crumble under the spotlight once again.
and yet, that is the beauty of derbies. the chaos, the unpredictability, the way form and injuries and logic often melt away once the whistle blows. 13 players may be doubtful, but the ones who do step on the pitch will know the weight of the occasion. one tackle, one goal, one mistake — and the whole city will talk about it for weeks.
so as sunday looms, the story is no longer just about guardiola versus amorim, or haaland versus rashford. it is about survival, about patched-up squads and makeshift line-ups, about two giants of english football trying to drag themselves through the stormof injuries to claim bragging rights.
the international break has once again left its scars, and now manchester waits, tense and mpatient, for the next chapter.
