Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has singled out Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana for praise ahead of the Sunday derby during his press conference today.

The Cameroon international joined the Red Devils from Inter Milan in the summer and is starting to find his footing following a dismal start to life at the Old Trafford club.

Onana last faced Man City in the final of the Champions League last season, putting in an excellent performance in goal and with his ball-playing skills despite ending up losing 1-0.

Guardiola is hoping he fails to replicate such a top display on Sunday, but he believes the Man United goalie will eventually prove himself going forward.

“I remember we have a common friend who spoke very highly of him but personally I met him in Amsterdam,” the Catalan told the press concerning Onana.

“He’s an exceptional player and now at United.

“Everyone needs time [to adapt to the Premier League], not just the managers but players, keepers. Everyone. Sometimes people are quicker but I have a high opinion of him as a keeper.”

“Hopefully not,” Guardiola replied when asked if he is worried Onana will play like he did in the UCL final.

“Hopefully we can beat him, but before the game, I always expect the best of the players we are going to face. I prefer to see the strengths than the weaknesses they have. He saved a penalty in the last minute which helped them to stay in contention to qualify for the last 16. Mentally it’s a good boost for them.”

Onana will fancy his chances of shutting out Man City after his brilliant performance against Copenhagen on Tuesday.

He saved a last-minute penalty to help Man United secure a 1-0 victory, their first in the group stages this term following losses to Bayern Munich and Galatasaray.

The Man United goalie and the defence will need to be on top of their game to stop the visitors from finding the back of the net, and their performance at the back will determine whether they will have a chance of getting a result.

Also….

Every word from Erik’s pre-City press conference

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Erik ten Hag has been speaking to the media ahead of this Sunday’s Manchester derby against City at Old Trafford.

The manager sat down with reporters at Carrington on Friday afternoon to look ahead to the Premier League clash, provide our latest team news and more.

You can see the first part of the media briefing – before the second section is released at 22:30 BST on Saturday evening – below, in its entirety…

Hi Erik, in terms of how the squad is shaping up for this weekend, will Casemiro be able to start? And is it right that Aaron Wan-Bissaka has resumed first-team training?
“Yes, Aaron was training today. And Case is a race against the clock.”

So [Casemiro is] not 100 per cent?
“No, not 100 per cent.”

Part one: Press conference v Manchester Cityvideo
And there’s obviously been talk about Alejandro Garnacho after his social-media post in the last 24 hours – are you concerned that he might get a ban and miss games?
“So, not in this moment. We are talking with The FA. What you see, and I want to confirm, is we are together. We are united. And we have seen the post of Andre Onana.”

Erik, you spoke the other night about confidence growing among the team, how much of a measure of where you are will this match be this weekend against City?
“I think that’s definitely [a measure]. You see, we are back where we wanted to be, this is a hard [United] team to beat, and they find a way to win. So, we are going in the right direction.”

You’ve been in Manchester for more than a year now, every game is important for United, every game you want to win, but what special quality does the Manchester derby have in your mind?
“I think it’s a match above many other derbies. It’s so huge because it’s Manchester internally, but it’s also about world football. All the eyes will be on this game globally.”

Erik, you said the club are back to where you want to be, that’s obviously in terms of results, three [wins] on the spin, but performances, Christian Eriksen said the balance is still not there and the routines are still missing, so how do you get that back?
“I said we are in the right direction, and we have a way to go. I see positives, I see also negatives, which is probably what Christian is referring to. We are not consistently, in possession, on the level where we can be, where we show in games we can be. Like for instance, Arsenal away. Also, the first 30 minutes in Bayern Munich away. But we should do this on a consistent basis. But pressing, we are quite good. We have the most ball regains from the whole Premier League, we have the most middle regains from the whole Premier League. So, there you see, our defensive organisation, our pressing organisation. I said before the season how we wanted to play, that is us. But then, we don’t take the benefit in the attacking transition moments, and we should be because we have the abilities in our team, the players there who can take benefit from it. We paid some attention to it, and this has to grow, this has to progress. Then games will become easier.”

Can the team take confidence from, even though they haven’t been consistent yet and the performances aren’t fully there yet, that they still are finding those ways to win?
“That is a team that is hard to beat. Sometimes, it’s not the way you want to go but you still have to win and that is what we are doing at this moment.”

Just on the attack there, the lack of goals from forwards has been noticeable this season, Erling Haaland has got more than all of the forwards here put together – is that because they’re not taking the chances or you’re not creating the chances? What’s missing? What’s the difference there? Is that on the forwards, is that the forwards’ fault?
“Fault? It’s co-operation and that has to click. We showed this week some examples where we are in overload positions going to the opponents’ goal and we don’t net, or we don’t even hit the target. We should do this better. I’m sure we don’t have time to train this fact, but we get some coaching and I’m convinced with the qualities from our players, that they will go and score more goals.”

Match preview: United v Man City
Just on Andre Onana, he had a very good game for you on Tuesday, but he’s had some low moments since he came to United as well – what’s it been like trying to keep his spirits up in those moments?
“You give him the standards, you give him expectations but then it is about getting to the same level. But he has really high expectations from himself and, so, the first thing, you have to find out is if we are talking about the same and we were. And from there on, you give him the confidence. Tell him: ‘Look at what you did in the past in great leagues with great clubs, and so you have the abilities and the skills to do it.’ I think the last two games were definitely good progress and now he has to keep this going. I mean, it’s very good, but as you know at Man United, good is not good enough. And that not only counts for Andre Onana, that counts for everyone.”

Marcus Rashford scored the winner in this fixture last season, he’s only scored once for you this season… have you had to put an arm around him? What’s his sort of confidence level like at the moment?
“Especially [we have to] give him the trust, I play him every game. Most of the games also he finishes. I have a strong belief he will return to scoring a lot of goals.”

Hi Erik, you showed last season that you were capable of beating any team on your day, but how far away do you think you are of having that consistency that City have shown over the last seven years to put title challenges together?
“In this moment, we are six points back, so we have to catch up. We know we have to progress the team, so we have to make developments. As I said in the question about Rashy, but it also has to do with the co-operation, with the movement around, with the distribution to him. And so we have to work on that. That is my focus point.”
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