Favouring City over United in the weekend derby can't be guaranteed for me, it's going to be a tough game for both sides and I don't think United will be going into that derby looking weak for City.
Well, I agree it looks like to be difficult to guess which team will win the match because both of them couldn't performed consistently in the last few matches. However, Man City has the advantage in the match, they will play at home. Sometimes, playing at own stadium can motivate a team to play with great confidence and with a more aggressive game. So, in theory Man City will have a better chance to win.
If am to keep aside the home advantage which is the only thing I think Manchester city has over United in this game. Analysing the calibre of teams Manchester United have played against this season to that of City and the results of those games, I might want to sum it up that United would not allow City have their way despite playing away.
After watching United 3 games in the EPL this season it's obvious there has being so much improvement than what they were last season. The only difficulty they haven't yet solved is ability to be scoring goals that much when chances are created unlike City that has a top 9 like Erling Haaland that hardly miss goal chances.
What improvement? In the early 3 matches this season, both the teams only could win 1 match only. It is quite strange if we call it as an improvement. Regarding the attacking line, I think both Man City and Man United have strong attackers. Unfortunately, they have poor defense. It is the weakest line of both teams.
All am saying that you can't compare the United of last season to that of this ongoing season despite their 1 win out of 3 games. Their stats in those games shows improvement in the squad form. Though in defense strength I can't think which of the two is the weakest.