Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero has been banned for three matches by the FA for elbowing West Ham’s Winston Reid in City’s 3-1 home win.
The ban comes at a crucial time as the in-form striker will miss the Manchester derby next week away at Old Trafford. Aguero will also miss out on City’s home game against Bournemouth. The Argentinian will miss the third and last game in the EFL cup third round match against Swansea on the 21st of September
Manchester City pleaded that the standard punishment would be excessive however FA upheld the ban. Many analysts pointed out that the intent was clearly there as Aguero wrestled for possession with Winston Reid while the long ball came in, however there wasn’t sufficient amount of contact to hand over the three match ban.
Aguero has been in a terrific form since the start of the season, the City spearhead has scored three goals out of three matches in the Premier League and is the joint top scorer with United’s Ibrahimovic. He also scored a quick hat-trick against Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League qualifier.
City who are top of the table right now, followed by United and Chelsea (equal on points but separated by goal difference) will look to put some distance between themselves and their city rivals this coming weekend.
United and City face off for the 38th time (since the modern Premier League era) in which United have emerged victorious 20 times and City 11. Since 2014, both the teams have won twice against each other with a single nil nil draw.
This time the derby has an extra hype to it thanks to the men off the pitch – Mourinho vs Guardiola. The pair has met each other on numerous occasions in La Liga, with Barcelona and Real Madrid, Champions League with Jose’s Inter side beating Barca. Former teammates at Barcelona, the pair has faced off eleven times in La Liga, where Guardiola has had the better of the Portuguese – 5 wins for Guardiola against only two for Mourinho. Both have accumulated a total of 43 trophies in their managerial career.
Now, the rivalry has come to Manchester – same bitterness but a different playground.
