City face the Manchester derby on Sunday, and I’m sure everyone is aware by now of how big this game is in terms of our season and in terms of our future. Whilst we’ve been slipping in recent weeks and months, United have been getting better and better and have a huge chance to put some significant distance between the two Manchester teams at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Of course, while many people (including me) are going into Sunday’s game feeling nervous, we can take confidence from our recent record at Old Trafford. We’ve won the last three derbies at Old Trafford, starting with the 6-1 win in October 2011. The year after we failed to win the Eastlands derby and all in all it was a fairly poor year for us, yet we managed to grab a win at Old Trafford thanks to Sergio Aguero – even if it did end up being fruitless with United still winning the title. Then, last season, we used our win at our biggest rivals to help us go on and win our second title, winning 3-0 in March last year thanks to a double from Edin Dzeko and a third from Yaya Toure. If those wins are anything to go by, we could get something on Sunday.
We’ve also already beaten The Red Devils this season, as many will remember well. In November, we hosted United at Eastlands and managed to get a 1-0 win despite a somewhat poor performance against 10 men, in which Aguero scored halfway through the second half to gift us a vital derby win. Interestingly that win also came during a run of poor form, with the win in that game being our first win in four games.
However, City do go into the game with some injury problems to think about. Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that both Stevan Jovetic and Wilfried Bony are absent with muscle and ankle injuries respectively, so we’re likely to see Aguero partner Dzeko up front, whilst the Chilean manager said Vincent Kompany is a doubt ahead of the visit to Old Trafford with a hamstring ailment.
United’s injury list is slightly smaller, and they have players returning for the derby. Chris Smalling, the man who was sent off in the derby at the Etihad back in November is expected to recover from illness in time to play, while Luke Shaw is also expected to be fit after recovering from a hamstring injury. However, Robin van Persie is likely to miss out with an ankle injury.
With City’s European qualification now in doubt, Sunday’s game holds an ever-increasing amount of significance. The derby is always massive now, with both teams so closely-matched, but this year could prove to be one of the biggest for some time. If City get a win it gives them an increased chance of qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League next season, but if they lose they could be trapped in a battle to make sure they finish fourth. As usual, keep your fingers crossed.
