Manchester United return to action this Sunday with this season’s first instalment of the Manchester derby.
United’s stoppage-time win over Burnley prior to the international break was followed by Manchester City sustaining a 2-1 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion, marking their second straight loss after they were overturned 2-0 by Tottenham Hotspur the week prior.
As such, you’d imagine the momentum would ever so slightly be in United’s favour when they take to the Etihad this weekend – especially given they oversaw an emphatic late 2-1 win over their arch-rivals last time out at the stadium.
United secure late window coup of Senne Lammens
Considering how vastly the Reds’ performances have differed since 2025/2026 got underway, Ruben Amorim has some major decisions to make over what starting XI he’ll field.
For example, fans are already pondering whether deadline-day signing Senne Lammens will be granted his debut at the earliest opportunity, having made the switch from Royal Antwerp last Monday.
His arrival came after a window in which United had maintained that a new goalkeeper would not be brought in. That was, however, until Altay Bayindir and Andre Onana’s troubling performances prompted INEOS to act on the market – or else risk having a campaign defined by errors between the sticks.
Onana has since green-lit a season-long loan to Turkish outfit Trabzonspor, while Bayindir will presumably have been made aware behind the scenes that he’ll no longer be Amorim’s first choice after starting each of the side’s three league fixtures thus far.
Amorim urged to omit Bayindir vs City
In the matches, the former Fenerbahce man conceded four goals. He came under fire following the opening-day loss to Arsenal when he was deemed far too weak from an early corner that would eventually lead to the Gunners’ winning goal.
Amorim has since been warned he must drop Bayindir for such high-profile fixtures via Craig Burley, who told ESPN: “Altay Bayindir, they can’t play him.
“He might be okay at shot-stopping which is what goalkeepers are paid for but he’s absolutely useless at dealing with balls in from set-pieces.
“This new lad (Lammens) needs to be able to marshal a back four, make saves and have authority and make a statement at set-pieces.
“That’s what every team is going to do against United now, they’re going to launch balls into the box and the goalkeeper needs to be able to deal with it.
“He’s either going to sink or swim. We don’t really know how he’s going to handle this scenario.”
