Phillip Neville revealed on BBC Radio 5 last week that Ruud van Nistelrooy once swapped his jersey at half time in a Manchester Derby so Fergie told him off saying: "if he did that again he'd be out of the club". Needless to say it never happened again.
So if the importance of this Super Sunday Derby needed any reminding, that statement says it all. In essence the 3 points on offer is but a sub plot to the real matters at hand.
The citizens come off back to back crushing if not surprising defeats and face an ever improving Red Devils outfit unbeaten in their last 4 matches (granted the last two were draws). Head to head though City have won five of their last six encounters with United, winning the last three in a row. They can also boast a 7-1 aggregate in the league last season not to mention scoring 18 goals in just the six fixtures between the two.
So history sides with the blue half but history won't be on the field come Sunday. Talking about who won't be playing coach Manuel Pellegrini will be without his best midfielder David Silva who has been ruled out for about a month. Louis van Gaal (LvG) will be without Phil Jones and Radamel Falcao. Though both teams have enough fire power upfront to trouble the oppositions defence who have only mustered two clean sheets but the loss of Silva could be telling for the home side.
A win for the visitors would put them one point behind the citizens and would send a statement to the rest of the league that the good times are well on their way to be back.
Prediction
It's probably the best time LvG could visit his noisy neighbours especially with his team looking more and more like a United of old. Silva missing out is a big loss for City and Rooney's return is a big boost for United. So I don't think I'd be putting my neck on the line in predicting City's third straight defeat.......... by no more than a goal or two of course.
Jade Christopher Bentley Adams signing off (@jcba)
It's probably the best time LvG could visit his noisy neighbours especially with his team looking more and more like a United of old. Silva missing out is a big loss for City and Rooney's return is a big boost for United. So I don't think I'd be putting my neck on the line in predicting City's third straight defeat.......... by no more than a goal or two of course.
Jade Christopher Bentley Adams signing off (@jcba)
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