David Moyes will be aiming to restore local
bragging rights by denting Manchester City’s
Barclays Premier League title hopes when they
visit Old Trafford on Tuesday.
Victories over Olympiacos and West Ham United, the
former overturning a 2-0 UEFA Champions League
last-16 deficit to secure Man United’s progression,
will have restored a measure of confidence in Moyes’
charges.
And while the United faithful will be far from satisfied
by another game in which their sole aim is to hinder
a rival’s Premier League title aspirations, a triumph
would be a feather in the cap of a manager who has
experienced a testing first season in charge after
taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson.
“We’ll go into our next game confident and ready to
get a result,” said Moyes after Saturday’s 2-0 win at
the Boleyn Ground.
For Man City, the game carries similar significance at
the start of what will likely prove a season-defining
run of fixtures.
Currently six points behind leaders Chelsea with
three matches in hand, Manuel Pellegrini’s men head
to their neighbours brimming with confidence after a
5-0 drubbing of Fulham at the weekend.
But City will be aware, too, that the derby precedes
trips to Arsenal and Liverpool, which sandwich a
tricky home match against Southampton.
Pellegrini will not be able to call on the services of
key striker Sergio Aguero, who is another week away
from fitness as he continues his rehabilitation from a
hamstring injury.
However, Edin Dzeko looks set to be fit after being
taken ill before the Fulham game and Stevan Jovetic
should also be available having returned from injury
for the final eight minutes on Saturday.
“I think that this team doesn’t depend just on one
striker,” said Pellegrini. “Maybe in the last week we
had some problems with Aguero and Jovetic. Now
Jovetic is coming back and I hope Aguero will be next
week with the team. If they don’t score there are
other players that will do it.”
Chief among the supporting cast is Yaya Toure, who
boasts 16 Barclays Premier League goals this term
following his hat-trick against Fulham.
Moyes will, therefore, be buoyed to have Rio
Ferdinand available having been forced to deploy
Michael Carrick at centre-back versus West Ham.
Ferdinand was rested at the weekend, but United will
again be without Nemanja Vidic, who serves the
second of his two-game ban.
At the other end, Moyes is likely to deploy Juan Mata
behind Wayne Rooney again as Robin van Persie
continues to be sidelined.
City, boosted by the return of captain Vincent
Kompany from a ban, head to United following four
successive Barclays Premier League clean sheets and
bidding for a third straight victory at the home of
their local rivals in a row.
Pellegrini’s men were also 4-1 winners when the
sides met back in September at the Etihad Stadium.
Manchester United (from): Amos, De Gea,
Lindegaard, Buttner, Evans, Evra, Ferdinand, Jones, M
Keane, Rafael, Varela, Carrick, Cleverley, Fellaini,
Fletcher, Giggs, Januzaj, Kagawa, Mata, Nani,
Valencia, Young, Hernandez, Rooney, Welbeck.
Manchester City (from): Hart, Pantilimon, Wright,
Boyata, Clichy, Demichelis, Kolarov, Kompany,
Lescott, Richards, Zabaleta, Garcia, Fernandinho,
Milner, Nasri, Navas, Rodwell, Silva, Toure, Dzeko,
Jovetic, Negredo, Nimely.