Pep Guardiola says he's seeing signs that Manchester United are joining a growing Premier League trend under Ralf Rangnick.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was in charge the last time Manchester City played their nearest rivals, with the Blues boss admitting afterwards that he was being gentle in his assessment of the opponents after a 2-0 schooling at Old Trafford. Solskjaer was dismissed shortly afterwards, with Rangnick coming in to try and improve the situation.
United will arrive at the Etihad 19 points behind City in the table, with the German coach having stabilised the club but still facing an almighty battle to confirm Champions League qualification for next season. While City need to win for their title hopes, three points could ultimately decide United's top-four chances.
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Guardiola has seen Rangnick try and employ a similar style at United to one that a number of teams in the Premier League already use, including Southampton and Liverpool.
"I would say the idea from Ralf Rangnick is the tendency already in the Premier League. Many teams want to play in that way. Ralf Rangnick is the father of gegenpressing, transitions, play inside.
"We see that with Liverpool, Southampton, with Jesse Marsch in Leeds, a little bit with Chelsea with Tuchel but they play wider with full-backs. It is a tendency. Most proper clubs in England - five or six teams are playing in this way - and important ones like Liverpool, United, Chelsea, Southampton are doing incredibly well and Leeds now.
"The work he has done in Germany is exceptional, creating a proper school at Red Bull - the team in Austria, New York, all the teams play the same philosophy. He came here to try to install it and you see some parts of what he wants to do."
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