The Citizens welcome their neighbours to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, with both sides only being separated by three points in the table.
Form Guide:
Manchester City:
While http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roberto-c31294 Mancini has managed to get his hands on the English Premier League trophy, the tactician remains a novice when it comes to the UEFA Champions League and again failed to get past the group stages.
Their form domestically, though, has been much better and currently the club occupy second position behind arch-rivals United.
Manchester United:
Defensive woes aside, the Red Devils have been pretty solid in-front of goal this term and managed to carve out wins from tough positions.
While Sir Alex Ferguson’s troops failed to get the better of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/CFR-Cluj-c38778 in the mid-week Champions League game, the tactician had already secure progression to the latter stages of the competition and played his second-string in order to afford them some much
needed game time.
However, before that, the 19-time English champions endured a torrid time against Reading and conceded three goals before powering their way back to a win.
Team News:
Manchester City:
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aleksandar-Kolarov-c4475, both of who have been struggling with an ankle and groin injury respectively.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jack-Rodwell-c17462 on the other hand has overcome a hamstring problem and is available for selection.
The most worrying sight the club have had to contend with is the reported fitness issue being faced by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Silva-c10601, whose hamstring could see Javi Garcia play in the middle of the park.
Otherwise, the champions have a nearly full strength squad to choose from and will be looking to come out on top in the crucial game.
Manchester United:
In-form midfielder http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Tom-Cleverley-c35218 is also a major doubt for the game, as his calf problem has still not been solved.
Skipper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nemanja-Vidic-c27550 has returned to first-team football, but it remains to be see whether Ferguson opts to name him in the line-up following a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Shinji-Kagawa-c33364 (knee) are still not in contention for a berth in the starting line-up but could take seats on the bench.
Sir Alex will be raring to go after losing out to City last season and claimed that a positive result at the Etihad would be one of the club’s biggest achievements.
"If we win it will be one of our best-ever results. They are a really good, powerful team with massive players. It won't be easy and if we defend like we did at Reading we'll be in trouble,” said the tactician.
"The important thing for us is to take lessons from the mistakes we're making and do something about it. We need to find a solution. At this time in the season you can't really say it's a two-horse race. If you think back we were 12 points behind http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786
at one point and when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429 beat us in the league in 1998 we were 11 points clear,” Ferguson said while talking to the media.
Author Prediction:
Manchester City 2:2 Manchester United
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