Sky Sports Pundit Steve Pearce feels Manchester United hold the upper hand in the Premier League race despite the progress made by Manchester City this season. The Mancunian giants are tied on points at the top of the league table with Pep Guardiola’s side leading on goal difference.
In a report covered by The Express, Pearce feels injuries will play a part during the current season with the Red Devils likely to be affected more than their cross-city counterparts. Despite this, the former England Under-21 manager backs Jose Mourinho to secure the English crown in his second year in charge.
He said: “As I said from the offset, it depends on injuries. United can’t suffer injuries as well as City. The two question marks I have, Manchester United if they get injuries to real key players. I say the goalkeeper (David de Gea), (Nemanja) Matic and (Romelu) Lukaku being the three key players.
“If they lose Lukaku, question marks. Manchester City, the big question mark is can they keep the ball out of the net? On Saturday (against Chelsea) it showed to me that maybe they are a vastly improving defensive outfit as well. So the playing fields have been evened a little bit.But I’ll still go with United because of Jose Mourinho.”
Manchester United managed just 54 goals during the 2016/17 campaign, which was only the sixth best scoring record in the division. However, there has been a vast improvement this term with Romelu Lukaku being the leading scorer.
Lukaku has been instrumental up front with seven goals in as many league games, but Mourinho will also be pleased about the form of attacking duo Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, who have shared five goals and five assists between themselves this season.
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