Man United have been told that two of their key attackers can help Ralf Rangnick's side collect a positive result in the Manchester derby with Son Heung-Min's outing against Pep Guardiola's side compared.
Rangnick's side come into this Manchester derby needing some kind of positive outcome to keep pace with an in-form Arsenal side who keep on levelling up, week in week out.
Claiming a result against a potential champions elect never seems an easy task in hindsight with how relentless Guardiola's side have been this term with Liverpool on their heels.
However, the Old Trafford club can take some positivity from the fact that they aren't unbeatable as Tottenham showed a few weeks ago with their impressive outing in East Manchester.
Dejan Kulusevski and Harry Kane's goals were enough to claim a 3-2 last minute victory against the Cityzens, a result that opened up the title race and flipped the landscape once again in the battle for top four, but it was one player whose performance had gone largely unnoticed.
Son's pace that was used to exploit Man City for the majority of the goals scored from Antonio Conte's side was part of the plan as the Italian outlined in his post-match press conference.
"For sure was a great win for us against a fantastic team like Manchester City. Compliments to Manchester City because also tonight they showed to be the best team, in my opinion, in the world for their organisation, for the players they have, for Pep," Conte said.
"To win a game like this means we had a perfect performance. We were very good defensively. Before the game, during the press conference, I said we prepared for the game very well, we had a plan. For sure, when you play against Manchester City, you know the ball possession will be 70 per cent for them.
"But I always say to my players, also in the moments we’re defending, in our minds has to be the target to win the ball and to attack. Then when we had possession of the ball we moved the ball very well. The first goal was outstanding for me. Because we prepared for this type of situation. This type of win has to give us confidence to trust in the work we’re doing. But we know very well there are many, many games in front of us. We have to fight a lot to stay very close for the first positions."
Fast forward to the big Super Sunday clash between the two Manchester clubs, pundit Micah Richards has highlighted just how Rangnick could mastermind a surprise result in this one and his explanation involves a comparison of two United forwards to the now out of form South Korean.
"I think Man City were quite naive in that game, Son’s pace in behind was clear to see but City didn’t read the situation," Richards said on Sky Sports.
"United have the players to do the same today, you know Fernandes in those spaces he can play those balls in behind, so can Pogba, and with the pace of Rashford and Elanga they can hurt City, but City need to just make sure and look at United’s strengths and try to nullify those and control the game."
Only half of this plan can come true from the get go at the Etihad with the young Swede starting whilst the Manchester Derby specialist Rashford sits on the bench despite Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani's absence.
You can follow live coverage of this 4:30pm fixture on our sister site the Manchester Evening News here.
