MANCHESTER football supremacy will be at stake at
the Etihad Stadium today when Premier League
rivals Manchester City and Manchester United face
off in a potentially momentous derby showdown.
United goalkeeping great Peter Schmeichel, who also
played for their cross-town rivals, opined this week
that City’s status as champions meant that they are
presently “a bigger club” than United.
His words echoed a claim made in February by City
manager Manuel Pellegrini, whose side beat United
4-1 and 3-0 last season en route to finishing 22
points above the 20-time champions in the league.
City go into today’s encounter four points above
their neighbours in third place in the table — six
points shy of leaders Chelsea — but recent events
suggest the gap may be narrowing.
City have gone three games without victory, falling
further behind Chelsea after a 2-1 loss at West Ham
United last weekend and then seeing their reign as
League Cup holders ended by Newcastle United on
Wednesday.
Last week’s 2-2 draw away to CSKA Moscow,
meanwhile, left them facing a battle to qualify from
Champions League Group E ahead of a high-stakes
return fixture against the Russian champions next
week.
Pellegrini complained that his players had shown a
“lack of trust” in each other following the 2-0 loss at
home to Newcastle, but he believes their downturn
in performances will prove short-lived.
“I think they know perfectly what we are doing and I
am absolutely sure we will return to our normal
performance,” the Chilean said in his pre-game
press conference.
“It is a very important game, but every game has just
three points, so it is very important for us to just add
three points.”
Compounding City supporters’ anxiety is the
knowledge that the previous time they won the title,
in 2012, they failed to kick on the following season
and finished 11 points adrift of eventual champions
United.
United struck a decisive blow when they went to the
Etihad in December of that campaign, winning 3-2
through an injury-time Robin van Persie free-kick to
move six points clear of City.
Another stoppage-time goal by Van Persie means
that United approach today’s game with renewed
confidence, after the Dutch striker earned his side a
morale-boosting 1-1 draw at home to Chelsea last
weekend.
It was the kind of late salvo they specialised in under
legendary former manager Sir Alex Ferguson, and
with some £150 million (RM825 million) of new
talent in their ranks in the form of players such as
Angel di Maria and Radamel Falcao, it has galvanised
belief that United are moving in the right direction
under Louis van Gaal.
“This is the biggest derby that I shall manage,” Van
Gaal said on Friday.
“It’s one of 38 matches, but for the fans it is
unbelievably big as a rivalry. I have felt that with
some of the players, but also especially with
(assistant manager) Ryan Giggs.
“When he presented the analysis on City, I felt more
tension with him. It was good to see.
“That is our goal, to win. It is possible. We are
growing, we are developing ourselves. What we have
seen of City in the last few matches was not so good.
You never know.” AFP
Twitter-@Oaubrainard

Pls asking who's the best between United and city is like comparing Pele to Andy Carroll, pls United is a 20 time EPL champion as u rightly said,3 UCL winner and pls I don't need to start counting the number of F.A's, Community Shield,Capital One, Super cup, Fifa club etc, pls United among the only few clubs that can add "ETC" when they are making mention of their achievements. Pls how many Epl does City have ? Lest I forget, what will make Barca fans to leave Etihad jxt to come to Old Trafford to catch a glimpse of my Trophy room during the Barca v Man City match in March is worth praising Manchester United for.

Real madrid is d better club

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O p when did you start watching football? I rep #teamGGMU.

Between elephant and goat which is bigger?