Whoever had warp speed levels of sarcasm from Pep Guardiola, cross it off your derby weekend bingo card.
Confronted with the unusual recent history of this fixture, where City tend to conduct 90-minute training sessions at Old Trafford and United habitually win at the Etihad Stadium, Guardiola sought to offer an explanation.
“It’s true we won there more than here but no specific reason. In all the games we were more proposed and were punished on the counter-attack,” he said.
“It’s the better strength and quality from United when they can run with Ronaldo, Elanga, with Rashford, with Jadon Sancho. Contact Bruno Fernandes with them and they are unstoppable.”
So far, so normal. This was a Guardiola pre-match news conference after all, where lavish and over-the-top praise for the opposition are par for the course.
This is also derby weekend, though, so best to season any take with plenty of salt.
“They are faster and quicker and that is why we are going to defend, for the first time deeper, and use a counter-attack for 90 minutes," he added.
Of course, there’s more chance of Guardiola replacing the injured Ruben Dias at centre-back with Moonchester than that being the actual game plan.
Expect a couple of tweaks specific to the occasion but City will not deviate from their usual methodology - a chosen course that has racked up trophy after trophy.
“Wow, we need one hour to explain what we have done at Man City,” Guardiola replied when asked about the divergent paths the two Manchester clubs have taken over the past decade,
“What they have done at Man United I don’t know because I’m not there and it’s not my business.
“I think Man City follow a pattern. We want to play in this way.”
The terms of engagement are set but it probably won’t take an hour to know what direction the 187th Manchester derby is heading in. Generally, these two teams let us know much sooner.
It is probably true of all games of this nature but the opening exchanges on Sunday will be absolutely vital to City as Liverpool breathe down their necks in the title race.
Dias beginning an absence of between four to six weeks with a hamstring injury feels big. John Stones and Aymeric Laporte have been on excellent form this season (they were the City Is Ours pick to start this weekend before Ruben’s diagnosis became clear) but will have to be on their mettle.
In last season’s derby at Eastlands, City made a nightmare start and never recovered - Gabriel Jesus giving away a penalty for a foul on Anthony Martial inside the first minute that Bruno Fernandes dispatched.
If the breakthrough doesn’t always come quite so early, then the tone can still be effectively set. United were well on top, scything through City on the break, in December 2019 before goals from Marcus Rashford and Martial respectively in the 23rd and 29th minutes of an eventual 2-1 win.
The biggest boost to City’s hopes is arguably that Martial has been packed off on loan to Sevilla. The France international scored inside half an hour when City ambled out of the blocks and never got going at Old Trafford in March 2020.
Thankfully for Guardiola, the reverse is also true. Eric Bailly put through his own goal in this season’s first Premier League derby after seven minutes and City proceeded to suffocate their rivals.
There were similarly embarrassing levels of domination in the 2020 Carabao semi-final, where Bernardo Silva’s 17th-minute screamer set the Blues on the way to a 3-0 half-time lead that flattered United.
A few of the main protagonists might have moved on but when Guardiola’s City hammered one of the final nails into Jose Mourinho’s United tenure in November 2018 - the last time they won a home derby - David Silva’s 12th minute opener had long felt on the cards.
It might take an hour to explain why City have achieved so much more than United over the past decade but they can’t waste any time if they want to write another chapter in that story of success on Sunday. Whoever goes down first in the Manchester derby tends to stay down.
Do you think City can end their recent poor home derby form? Follow the City Is Ours editor Dom Farrell on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
