Well, it's that scary time of the season that happens a minmum of two times - it's the Manchester Derby, folks! I seem to say this every year; but this is the closest Manchester Derby ever. The teams are more or less evenly matched and there's an equal measure of optimism and fear in both camps. City boast the talents of Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Samir Nasri, Vincent Kompany, Joe Hart, Nigel de Jong, Gael Clichy, Micah Richards, Joleon Lescott, Yaya Toure, Edin Dzeko and James Milner while United will be relying on Wayne Rooney, Nani, Ashley Young, David de Gea, Nemajna Vidic, Phil Jones and Patrice Evra to pull them through this one.
Down the years United have always gone into this fixture expecting to win. We have just one win at Old Trafford in nearly 40 years, we have never really troubled United domestically, and it's always been a case of "well at least we beat United" at the end of every disappointing campaign in the blue half of Manchester. While United have won every trophy under the sun, we have been feeding off the scraps that the Football League has to offer, but recently that's changed. Yaya Toure gave us our first ever win at the new Wembley Stadium by scoring against United in a game we deserved to win.
And over the summer it appeared the tide had turned even more. We were bringing in names like Sergio Aguero and we were signing top European prospects like Stefan Savic, all in preparation for the Community Shield. United's second half efforts and 3-2 win forced us back to the drawing board for the start of the season, because we realised we weren't as ready as we thought we were for a title challenge.
But since that day we've signed Samir Nasri, smashed Tottenham to pieces at White Hart Lane and you may have noticed that we're top of the Premier League above United heading into the Derby. United haven't been at their best like we have but they don't need to be (United won the Premier League and got to the Champions' League final on 80% last season).
I think United will have too much at Old Trafford for us to extend our lead at the top of the table, but at this stage of the season anything can change before May. Their home record is annoyingly fantastic from a City fan's perspective, but you cannot deny how much of a fortress Old Trafford has remained over the decades.
Predicted starting 11.
Prediction - Manchester United 2-1 Manchester City
