Manchester City vs Manchester United LIVE: Premier League team news, line-ups and more ahead of vital derby

Having pursued Ashworth so relentlessly, and having forked out a significant sum to recruit him from Newcastle, the sporting director’s departure was more than a little peculiar. Richard Jolly looks at a strange situation:

While events at Manchester City may be more accurately described as a crisis, it’s been another turbulent week at Manchester United. Sporting director Dan Ashworth left the club on Sunday just five months after taking up his role.

These are still embryonic days for Manchester United under Ruben Amorim, with a new system taking some adjusting to. Rasmus Hojlund has issued a plea for patience as the club work through some teething problems.

United quickly moved to appoint Amorim after sacking Erik ten Hag in late October, when he had been linked to City amid uncertainty over Guardiola’s future.

City made a profit of £139m on transfers in a year when they sold Cole Palmer, Aymeric Laporte and Riyad Mahrez which could help fund an overhaul of Pep Guardiola’s ageing squad.

Is Pep Guardiola “arrogant”? And is that quality costing his sides trophies? Fabio Capello certainly thinks so…

And Pep Guardiola wasn’t the only Manchester City employee questioning their direction after the Juventus defeat, as Richard Jolly explains:

Second-half goals from Dusan Vlahovic and Weston McKennie at the Allianz Stadium left Guardiola’s side languishing in 22nd place in the standings.

A very good afternoon and welcome to The Independent’s LIVE coverage of the Manchester derby. These are rocky times for Manchester City as both domestic and continental campaigns threaten to come off the rails amid a wretched recent run, with Pep Guardiola admitting that nine defeats in ten games had taken a significant toll on him and his squad. Can their cross-town rivals pile on more pain as Ruben Amorim experiences derby day for the first time as Manchester United manager?

Kick off is at 4.30pm GMT.