MANCHESTER CITY and Manchester United add another chapter to their long-standing rivalry this afternoon.
The Citizens will be determined to close the gap on Arsenal while Erik Ten Hag's men have one eye on a top four spot.
- Start time: 2pm GMT
- Live stream: Sky Go
- TV channel: Sky Sports Main Event & Premier League
- Man City XI: Ederson; Walker, Ake, Akanji, Cancelo; De Bruyne, Gundogan, Silva; Foden, Haaland, Grealish
- Man Utd XI: De Gea; Dalot, Varane, Martinez, Malacia; McTominay, Eriksen; Antony, Fernandes, Sancho; Rashford
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Man City 1-0 Man Utd
10. United are struggling to get a grip on things here.
They do force their first real attack, but it quickly breaks down after a loose touch from Rashford outside of the box.
Man City 1-0 Man Utd
8. City lead in the derby - and it had been coming!
Joao Cancelo moves inside from the left, and feeds Bernardo Silva out wide.
The Spaniard has time and space to pick out Phil Foden inside the box, who sweeps first time past a static David de Gea at the near post.
First blood to the champions!
Man City 0-0 Man Utd
5. United remain under the cosh at the Etihad, and are defending for their lives right now.
Grealish looks on his game this afternoon.
Man City 0-0 Man Utd
3. City should be in front - and, to be honest, I have no idea how they are not!
Unmarked at the far post, Haaland's header is cleared off the line.
Following up, De Bruyne's shot is saved by De Gea, and then it takes a heroic McTominay block to deny Bernardo Silva.
Frantic stuff!
Man City 0-0 Man Utd - Dalot yellow card
2. There are just 92 seconds on the clock, but we've already seen the first yellow card.
Grealish gets to the ball ahead of Dalot on the far touchline, and accelerates past his man.
Or at least he would have done if the United defender hadn't stuck out his leg to cut the England international down in full flight.
Kick-off - Man City v Man Utd
1. Here we go! Michael Oliver blows his whistle and the first Manchester derby of the season is underway.
It's the visitors that get proceedings going, and keep possession from kick-off. You can tell that by the chorus of boos that rain down from the stands.
Here come the two teams!
The two sets of players enjoy a laugh together in the tunnel, but now it's time for the smiles to stop.
There's an air of expectation at the Etihad - a nervous pause for thought only ever felt on derby day - but then the crowd erupts as the teams emerge on to the pitch.
Led by unlikely captains Ilkay Gundogan and Bruno Fernandes, the sides line up for the pre-match formalities as 'Hey Jude' pumps out of the stadium speakers.
It's a bright afternoon in Manchester, but that sunshine is combined with a crisp coldness in the air.
It's blue versus red! It's City versus United! It's the Manchester derby, and kick-off is next.
Haaland shows he's box clever
Manchester's City's goalscoring machine Erling Haaland has netted hat-tricks in each of his last two Premier League home matches at the Etihad.
Another today would make him the first player in history to achieve the unthinkable feat.
The Norwegian has 14 goals in 10 appearances for his new club this season and, as this graphic from the statisticians at Sky Sports shows, he's lethal inside the penalty box.
Enemies not united at Etihad
One of most memorable moments in Manchester derbies is not a great goal or a superb save, but Roy Keane's horrific challenge on Alf-Inge Haaland in 2001.
The infamous incident saw Keane red carded, and then loom over the stricken Norwegian to unleash a verbal volley; an act of retribution after Haaland had done similar in a match between United and Leeds when accusing Keane of playacting despite the Irishman severely injuring his knee.
Haaland played very little football after the incident with Keane, but fast forward 21 years and both currently find themselves back on the same pitch.
However, Keane - part of Sky Sports' punditry team this afternoon - and Haaland, in attendance to see his son Erling play for City, have shown no signs of burying the hatchet.
Pep reveals reasons for Rodri absence
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has told Sky Sports that Rodri pulled up in training yesterday, and the club were not prepared to take a chance with the hectic month that awaits them.
However, the Spanish coach added that they would not be using the midfielder's absence as an excuse if they fail to get the job done this afternoon.
Rodri in the training session yesterday felt something in his leg...a little more than a niggle, and we couldn't take the risk with this tough, tough schedule. It's a [big loss in that position] and Kalvin [Phillips] is injured as well. But the biggest clubs in history that have success, these excuses don't exist in the locker room.
Pep GuardiolaSky SportsRonaldo remains among United's subs
22 Heaton, 2 Lindelof, 7 Ronaldo, 9 Martial, 17 Fred, 18 Casemiro, 23 Shaw, 28 Pellistri, 36 Elanga
United unchanged for derby clash
It's been almost a month since Manchester United last took to the field in the Premier League, but Erik ten Hag has named an unchanged team nonetheless.
The Dutch boss goes with the XI that beat Arsenal which means two-goal her Marcus Rashford starts up top despite injury concerns in the past week.
Scott McTominay starts in midfield, keeping Casemiro on the bench, and partners key man Christian Eriksen.
On the right, Antony makes his second Premier League appearance while left-back Tyrell Malacia keeps Luke Shaw out of the team.
Cristiano Ronaldo is once again among the United substitutes.
1 De Gea; 20 Dalot, 19 Varane, 6 Martinez, 12 Malacia; 39 McTominay, 14 Eriksen; 21 Antony, 8 Bruno Fernandes, 25 Sancho; 10 Rashford
On the City bench today
18 Ortega, 33 Carson, 3 Dias, 14 Laporte, 19 Alvarez, 21 Gomez, 26 Mahrez, 80 Palmer, 82 Lewis
Akanji and Ake start for City
Pep Guardiola makes three changes to the last Manchester City side that competed in the Premier League.
John Stones and Rodri are both out injured so Kyle Walker and Ilkay Gundogan come into replace them.
Meanwhile, Nathan Ake gets the nod ahead of the benched Ruben Dias in central defence, and will partner Manuel Akanji for the first time.
It's the standard 4-3-3 shape for the Citizens, who are captained by the incoming Gundogan, and led up front by the goalscoring machine that is Erling Haaland.
31 Ederson; 2 Walker, 25 Akanji, 6 Ake, 7 Cancelo; 17 De Bruyne, 8 Gundogan, 20 Bernardo Silva; 47 Foden, 9 Haaland, 10 Grealish
Away day joy in derby
How important is home advantage? If history is anything to go by in the Manchester derby, the answer appears to be 'not very'.
The away side has won 21 times in the 50 Premier League meetings between the two Manchester clubs, including in 13 of the last 25.
No fixture in Premier League history has been won more times by the visitors.
City's Rodri reported as missing
Confirmation of today's teams is less than 20 minutes away, but it's already being reported that Manchester City's Rodri will miss out.
According to several journalists, the midfielder was not among the City squad of players that emerged at the Etihad from the club bus.
The Spanish international is a key part of Pep Guardiola's side, and his absence would prompt a real reshuffle among the home rank.
City odds-on for success
It's no surprise, but Manchester City have been chalked up as odds-on favourites by the bookies to seal another home victory this afternoon.
However, this fixture has a habit of throwing up an away surprise, and it's not often you get 6/1 about United winning on the road.
- Man City win 2/5
- Draw 4/1
- Man Utd win 6/1
Odds from Betfair correct at the time of post publication.
Erik Ten Hag revealed that he had spoken to Jadon Sancho about his former Borussia Dortmund teammate Erling Haaland.
But the Manchester United boss kept his cards close to his chest with his plan on stopping Haaland.
I like Haaland's attitude. How he is on the pitch. He is direct, his life is about goals and he is direct to the goal of the opponent. He can also create goals, but once again, I respect him, but for us on Sunday we are not playing against Haaland, we are playing against Man City and for us, it's not about Man City. It is about us and them being an opponent.
Erik Ten Hag manutd.comHistory in the making
Kevin de Bruyne has already proved to be a handful for Manchester United in seasons gone by.
But the addition of Erling Haaland makes things ten times harder for the Red Devils.
Haaland, 22, is on course to break TEN records this season which includes, most goals in a Premier League season and the goal record across the top-five European leagues.
The City talisman is also chasing Jamie Vardy's record of netting in eleven consecutive matches but United will be determined to stop that this afternoon.
De Bruyne's delightful double
Kevin de Bruyne's two goals inspired Manchester City to a 4-1 victory over their local rivals last season.
On the last episode
It was a day to forget for United when these two Manchester giants last clashed earlier on this year as City stormed to an emphatic 4-1 win.
Kevin de Bruyne opened the scoring with only five minutes gone on the clock but Jadon Sancho grabbed a well executed equaliser.
However, De Bruyne refused to give United any hope of a turnaround as the Belgian talisman netted his second on the 28th minute.
And then Riyad Mahrez arrived on the scene with a sublime second half brace to seal all three points for the Citizens.
Here is the current standings
Arsenal's 3-1 win over bitter North London rivals Spurs yesterday means that Manchester City can only close the gap to a point with a win today.
While three points for Manchester United would see them jump above high-flying Brighton into the top four.
Welcome to Manchester City vs Manchester United
Good afternoon football lovers, I hope everyone is staying safe and wrapping up as the summery months are well and truly behind us.
Thankfully, the Premier League has spoiled us with ANOTHER fiery derby this weekend and with due to both teams current good form, it really could go either way.
Erik Ten Hag's rejuvenated Manchester United side take a short trip across the city where they'll be taking on reigning champions Manchester City at the Etihad.
United seem to have recovered from their nightmare start to the season having won their last three consecutive league fixtures - including a 3-1 victory over table toppers Arsenal.
While Pep Guardiola's men are the only team who remain unbeaten this season and with goal machine Erling Haaland up-top, they aren't showing any signs of slowing down.
Most expectations is that the hosts will come out on top today but this is football, you just never know what can happen.
Stay tuned people because coming up we will have any latest gossip, injury updates and the starting line-ups all before kick-off at 2pm UK time.
