Premier League preview: Manchester City v Manchester United
One of them is under pressure, the other is under the weather. One is spending big, the other is drowning in debt. One is blue, the other is red. Both are in the same city, and both think it’s a town that is not big enough for the both of them.
Welcome to Manchester.
In the blue corner, Roberto Mancini’s City are ready to come out fighting.
“We do owe them one, but even if we'd won the previous four games against them 7-0, we'd still feel that we owe them one,” said goalkeeper Joe Hart, who was on loan at Birmingham last season but still watched on intently as Manchester United inflicted three defeats upon their city rivals courtesy of three last-gasp goals.
United’s Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes all came up with the goods just as time was running out in those league and Carling Cup contests in 2009/10, ensuring that Hart has a right to feel that his side certainly do “owe them one” in their ongoing bid to surpass their biggest rivals. Noted author and City fan Colin Shindler’s 1999 book Manchester United ruined my life was a best-seller amongst empathetic followers of a club always regarded as Manchester’s second. Eleven years on, and there may be a whole lot more money involved, but the sentiments remain the same – for most anyway.
“At City we're not obsessed by United,” said Carlos Tévez, whose move to Eastlands from United saw him feature on a famous poster that suggested otherwise. “Our challenge is just to improve on what we did last year and perhaps by doing that we can overtake our neighbours.
“That's our aim. That's the road we are on. I made the change and so far I'm not sorry.”
Neither are his team-mates.
“Carlos just leads by example,” continued Hart. “He is a phenomenal player. If we were stinking on a Saturday and Carlos played well, there's a good chance that we would win.”
There’s a good chance of that on a Wednesday too, but as Tévez gets set to face his former employers tonight, United have had problems of a different kind to worry about. The red corner needs some running repairs.
“It is not a great position for us to be in. We are counting heads at the moment,” was Sir Alex Ferguson’s medical bulletin ahead of the clash, as several members of his squad continued to suffer from a virus that was picked up during last week’s Champions League trip to Turkey. “I've no idea where to begin with my team, no ideas at all.”
All of which may be a bit of a smokescreen ahead of yet another attempt by City to usurp their rivals, but Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Dimitar Berbatov and Paul Scholes are all believed to be affected by the illness, and with Ryan Giggs out and Nani doubtful, the bug is a most unwelcome development ahead a vital clash for United, and one that they’ll have to play a whole lot better in than they did on Saturday afternoon – when Park Ji-Sung’s last-gasp goal rescued three points in a home clash with Wolves from which they only really deserved one.
Owen Hargreaves’ attempted comeback in that game lasted only six minutes, and the midfielder will now miss at least another five weeks with a hamstring injury. As painful as it is to contemplate, he’ll probably be out for longer.
Defeat here would be hard for Ferguson to contemplate too, but if his squad is as badly affected as he says it is, then it may have to be a result that he considers is possible. If indeed he ever does that.
He won’t have to face Mario Balotelli, who begins a three- match ban following his sending off against West Brom on Sunday, and who – in surely the ultimate example of the blind leading the blind – has been offered guidance on how to control his temper by none other than City team-mate Nigel de Jong.
The likes of Tévez, David Silva and Yaya Touré will still be there though, and so on paper City look the stronger – especially if United’s illness crisis turns out to be as severe as they claim.
Even if it isn’t, they could end up pig sick here.
It won’t alter the balance of power in Manchester, but Mancini and City may well end the night all smiles, earning a temporary cure to an ongoing problem.
Right now they’ll willingly take that.
Prediction: Man City 2 Man Utd 1
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