Highlights and analysis from Sunday's four Premier League fixtures, plus the best of the action from the rest of the weekend.
If you missed Match of the Day 2, catch up now on BBC iPlayer.
And you can watch Saturday's Match of the Day here.
Listen back to the weekend's full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester City boss Pep Guardiola speaking to BBC Match of the Day:
"Not much to say. No defence, they were incredibly persistent. We have not lost eight games in two seasons. We can't defend that. It's not about this or that player. We gave away goals, our fault. We don't play with composure. The results are not good, the game was not exceptional. I know the situation, I understand but the reality is this.
"They have to know that these situations happen. In the box you have to be careful. It's not about Matheus [Nunes], he played really good in not his position at full-back. But it's not about that, we have to play better. The result will help us to take our best but right now we don't have it. The way I learn is to keep going.
"I am not good enough. I am the boss, the manager, I have to find solutions and so far I haven't. That's the reality.
"We want to play better, create chances. But at the moment it's not possible."
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva has also been speaking following today's loss to Sky Sports: "We deserved what happened. At this level a game or two is unlucky. We can't say this is lucky or unlucky - 10 games it's not about that.
"Minute 87 in a derby, winning 1-0 and our corner ends in a penalty for them, if we make these stupid decisions with three or four minutes to go you deserve to pay for that. Looking at the game I think there was only one team that could win the game, but at the end we lost.
"It's not one game, it's a lot of games lately. We have to look at ourselves. You can say oh t's a bit unlucky, no. It's the decisions you make. Today in the last minute we played like under-15s.
"We don't want them to happen. It's a bit frustrating because if you look at the game until 86th minute there was only one team that could win the game. Then from a corner for Man City, you leave a centre back, Ruben stayed, but we end up with the ball at our keeper. There's no excuse for that.
"When it happens in 10 games, we have to look at ourselves and see what we can do better. There needs to be communication for us to play short or to keep the ball in the corner or something. At least if the ball ends up with one of our midfielders, just put it in the corner. Not put yourself under pressure. It's not just the pass from Matheus to the keeper. It's everything, how the ball ends up from Ruben to Matheus and Kyle we have to do better. Be more experienced, smarter, at this level even if you're better than the opponent. You deserve to lose the game.
"It's quite normal that we're not very happy at the minute. Not just this game but the last month. We have to do better individually and collectively because it's not the standards of Manchester City."
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester City midfielder Phil Foden speaking to BBC Match of the Day after today's loss: "Massively [disappointed] - game was in our hands. 1-0 up we were controlling the game. We had a lot of possession. Seems to be the story at the moment I don't know what happens but we switch off and they score two goals.
"It keeps happening at the moment. We have to stick together now, rebuild and go again.
"We've not been used to losing this amount of games in a short period. But sometimes you have to experience this in life, you can't always win. When things go wrong they then seem to go worse. We have to stick together and regroup."
Thought you were in control? "100%. We had control of the game 1-0 up. You can concede at 1-1 but you can't concede straight after, that's unacceptable. It's just one of those, it's the way it is."
Is it a mentality problem? "At the start when you lose a couple of games no, but when it happens a lot it feels like a mental thing. We need to get out of that and get back to winning ways and pick ourselves back up."
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester City were leading until the 88th minute of this match, but ended up losing 2-1 – the latest into a game that a reigning champion has led in a Premier League game and lost.
The team leading at half time of both Manchester derbies in the Premier League in 2024 has gone on to lose (3-1 to Man City in March and 2-1 to Man Utd in December). This is as many times as the team behind at half time had gone on to win in all meetings between the two sides in the competition previously (2).
Manchester City have only lost four of the 105 Premier League home games in which they have been ahead at half time under Pep Guardiola (W94 D7), with half of those defeats coming against Manchester United – 3-2 in April 2018 and 2-1 tonight.
In terms of average age, Manchester City's starting XI (28y 137d) was the oldest named by either side in a Manchester derby in the Premier League since April 2017.
Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?
Have your say on Man City’s performance
What did you make of Man Utd’s display?
Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies
Manchester United have kept just one clean sheet since the arrival of new head coach Ruben Amorim and changing formation to a back three, but could that defence cause Pep Guardiola some headaches in the Manchester derby?
Former City midfielder Michael Brown tells The Football News Show how they sometimes struggle against a back three and how they might find a solution.
Watch The Football News Show on iPlayer
Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League games this season, against a variety of guests.
For week 16, he takes on darts star Stephen Bunting, who is a Liverpool fan.
Sutton's prediction: 3-1
The wheels have really come off at Manchester City now - who saw that coming?
City just cannot keep a clean sheet. They have managed one in their past 10 games, and now their manager Pep Guardiola is talking about being tired.
I know it was in the context of him not having enough energy to go to another club and starting again there, but it must have sent a message to his current players too.
You never know with Pep, and he may have just been being sarcastic, but if he really is tired, does he have the energy required to turn City around? That would be a worry for City with the run they are on.
Meanwhile, at Manchester United, new manager Ruben Amorim is barely through the door and the club's owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is telling everyone they are "mediocre".
Amorim beat City in his final game in charge of Sporting, before he came to Old Trafford, which got United fans very excited, but they have soon realised whenever they play anyone half-decent, they are the same team that were struggling under Erik ten Hag.
Basically, both teams have been really bad, so what on earth do I go for here?
In the recent past, I have always gone with City in Manchester derbies and, while Amorim beat them with Sporting, you have to remember City could have been a few goals up by half-time in that game.
So, I'm going to go with City to win at home and maybe rejuvenate Pep before Christmas.
Speaking of stats, I've got a good one for you - United never lost three league games in a row in more than two years under Erik ten Hag, but Amorim will manage that in less than a month if he is beaten here.
Bunting's prediction: 2-1
I can see this being cagey because of City's poor form, with just one goal in it.
Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester City boss Pep Guardiola says he has no regrets about signing his two-year contract extension.
The new deal was announced on 21 November, after his side had just lost four successive games.
The feeling was Guardiola's commitment to 2027 would bring some stability to the club in a time of unprecedented difficulty.
But City have won just once since then, a 2-0 win against Nottingham Forest.
Their poor run has seen them beaten 4-0 at home by Tottenham, throw away a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 with Feyenoord, lose 2-0 at Liverpool, held 2-2 by Crystal Palace and they faltered 2-0 at Juventus on Wednesday to leave their Champions League qualification hopes in doubt.
With just one win in their last 10 games in all competitions and a Manchester derby against United on Sunday, Guardiola admitted his sleep and diet are being affected by the worst run of results in his entire managerial career.
But the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss is adamant he does not wish for an exit option at the end of the current campaign.
"Absolutely not," said Guardiola, when asked if he had any regrets over committing himself to City for what could turn out to be 11 years in total.
"I would not be able to sleep – even worse than now – if I thought I was leaving when the club is in this situation. Impossible.
"They might sack me, that could happen. But leaving now, in this position? No chance."
It is clear the Spaniard feels a sense of loyalty to City's Abu Dhabi ownership. That sentiment is reciprocated given Guardiola has delivered an astonishing 18 trophies since arriving at the club from Bayern in 2016.
Having delivered the coveted Champions League title as part of a historic Treble success in 2023, Guardiola admits his legacy is secure and there are no more major targets to drive him on.
But the 53-year-old still has immense drive and pride in doing his job to the best of his abilities.
And the immediate challenge is to re-establish City at the top end of the domestic and European game.
"What we have done, we have done," added Guardiola. "The satisfaction to do it is done. It is accomplished. The way we have played, the numbers, everything. Always it will remain. But now, in this situation, I could not leave.
"There are many things we have to do; go into the market at the right moment, maybe in winter or maybe the other one, or the other one, to make the squad bigger, so they compete with each other to make the players better.
"Nothing is eternal. You have to be honest. If I am losing and losing and losing, more and more, in the end I say, 'guys, you have to get someone else to fix this'.
"But I don't feel that. I don't know at [another] big club, if you play 10 games and lose seven if they have the confidence I have. But the club knows what we have done in the past and that the situation is exceptional for many reasons."
Image source, Getty ImagesBoth Manchester City and Manchester United supporters are apprehensive going into Sunday's derby at Etihad Stadium (16:30 GMT).
On the latest editionof The Football News Show on BBC iPlayer, City fan Rachel Herdson and United supporter Kim Burdett previewed the latest battle for bragging rights.
"I am having flashbacks to my childhood and games in the 80s and 90s when we last had the horrific form we are in," said Herdson.
"The only consolation at the minute is that it is a derby and form goes out of the window. It's a great chance to stop the rot.
"It's always a good time to play the derby and it is one of the first games I look for at the start of the season, and it's become very crucial to our season as well. We have to stop the rot at some point.
"We have a really tough game at Aston Villa next week too so we really need to be picking up points."
Burdett feels similar to her blue counterpart, citing the fact United head coach Ruben Amorim is still settling into his role at the club as a potential reason for the match to cause reds nervousness too.
"It's quite an unusual situation for both sets of fans to be coming into a derby and neither side being confident," she said.
"City are not in the best run of form but we've obviously got a new manager and we are trying to settle into a new system.
"Players are trying to learn to play differently and set up differently, so this game has probably come a little bit too soon for us. We don't really know what team Amorim is going to put out, but it is a derby and anything is possible. We saw that in the cup final back in May.
"I don't think even United fans expected us to win that. It's unpredictable, so both red and blue are full of trepidation before this one.
"We can have a bit more confidence that we aren't going to get completely hammered as we have done in previous years.
"I'd like to think that we will give them a good game."
Alex Keble
Football tactics writer
For Manchester United to take a giant leap forward in the Manchester derby on Sunday, they must first take a small step back.
Beating Manchester City demands a reactive counter-attacking strategy - a brief return to the Erik ten Hag methodology they had hoped to leave behind.
By now, you will have heard this point from many pundits, but without Rodri breaking up the play, City have become vulnerable to fast breaks.
Their recoveries are down significantly from 45.6 per 90 in 2023-24 to 39.1 per 90 in 2024-25 and they have conceded the highest expected goals (xG) from fast breaks in the whole of the Premier League (4.5).
In theory, United have the players and the formation to expose this further.
All they need do is follow Ten Hag's sit-back-and-counter tactics – and listen to Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner's advice.
"We knew we can play a higher intensity [than City] - all the data showed this," Glasner said after Palace's 2-2 draw with City last weekend. "We knew when we get into the transitions we'd get in behind.
"There was so much space on the opposite side next to [Ilkay] Gundogan. When you play with one number six, 4-1-4-1, like City are playing, there is a lot of space on the left and right of the number six."
Image source, BBC SportPalace's first goal in the 2-2 draw comes from Will Hughes (circled) having the time - without Rodri - to advance and play a through-ball to Munoz. Gundogan (19) is out of position forcing the two City centre-backs to try and step out.
Intensity, fast transitions, and targeting the number six - that is how to try and beat City - and United have the system to do it.
Ruben Amorim's 3-4-2-1 has two 'number 10s' sitting just behind a striker, while City's 4-1-4-1 isolates the number six in precisely that same zone.
This basic mismatch could define the derby.
Image source, BBC SportThe likely formation of Amorim's Man Utd, with two 'number 10s' (red 9 & 10) positioned either side of City's single defensive midfielder (blue 6)
Amad Diallo's dribbles (or 'carries' in Opta language) have been directly responsible for five of United's six league goals under Amorim.
If he forces a counter-attack, then City's stretched midfield is likely to be preoccupied with United's two central midfielders, leaving the two 10s with space to feed through balls.
This is exactly what happened in Sporting's 4-1 Champions League victory against City last month, when Amorim's side largely played on the break and scored twice by dancing through the areas Mateo Kovacic, the lone six, could not cover
Man City's Kovacic, overworked as the only number six, cannot get close enough to stop the through ball for Sporting's first goal.
After Kovacic is pulled out of position and beaten by a successful dribble, Man City's midfield is again wide open, allowing Sporting to score a second.
The visitors could snatch a rare win, but only if Amorim is willing to both repeat his Sporting template and indulge United's old habits.
BBC Sport chief football news reporter Simon Stone and former Manchester City midfielder Michael Brown join Ben Croucher on The Football News Show to look ahead to the Manchester derby, with both teams going into the match at Etihad Stadium in underwhelming form.
Watch The Football News Show on iPlayer
Image source, Getty ImagesFormer Arsenal and Manchester City full-back Gael Clichy has been discussing the club's drop in form on the most recent episode of BBC 5 Live's Planet Premier League: "I haven't been worried for City up to the last game. I'm not saying I'm worried, but that's the very first time I thought, 'OK, we're not talking about crisis, but there is something going on'."
On whether more academy players should be given game time: "We have this idea of City because it used to be like having a big squad, full of big players, but if you really look now, you will have maybe nine, let's say 11.
"All of a sudden, we're not talking about a team in terms of squad depth being equipped to actually do what they're supposed to do. Of course, we can talk about the academy and we want to see more players getting through the academy, but it's not in this moment in a time of the season that you're going to risk players. You're not going to risk them because they're going to cost you points."
There have not been many occasions where Manchester City and Manchester United have come into this derby in such troublesome form.
Pep Guardiola and his side are going through their worst spell under the Spaniard since he arrived in 2016, while Ruben Amorim's start as United boss has been somewhat stuttering.
This does, however, set up an intriguing battle at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
While the two sides go head to head on the pitch, we asked our fan contributors for each club to go head to head off it.
Each got to ask three questions of the other. Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany, external was asked the following by our Manchester United supporter:
Despite struggling to replicate form from previous seasons, how confident are City fans coming up against this United side under a new manager?
Guardiola told his players not to feel sorry for themselves, but why have City gone backwards this season?
What has been City's biggest weakness this campaign?
And Dale O'Donnell from United in Focus, external was given the following questions by McInerney:
How optimistic are you about the Amorim era after a difficult start?
After a lengthy pursuit to get him in, Dan Asworth has already gone - is this concerning?
What is a realistic aim for United this season?
Manchester City have have lost ground in the Premier League and are unlikely to automatically qualify for the Champions League last 16 but have injuries put the spotlight on an aging squad?
Former City midfielder Michael Brown tells The Football News Show that the likes of Ilkay Gundogan should not be blamed for their poor form and why reinforcements are crucial come January.
