Rio Ferdinand has insisted that Manchester United have half a dozen players who are good enough to get into the Manchester City team ahead of Saturday's derby showdown.
United head into this weekend's match in fine fettle under the guidance of new boss Erik ten Hag. The Dutchman has masterminded a run which has seen United win 11 of their last 12 games - but they were thrashed 6-3 by their bitter rivals in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.
Ten Hag's side will be desperate to make amends and will fancy their chances of inflicting more misery on the reigning Premier League champions, who were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by Southampton in midweek.
United are in a much healthier position than they were back in October, when the two sides previously met. And Ferdinand even believes that more than half of United's current team would be first-choice at Manchester City right now: an indicator of just how far his old side have come over the past few months.
When he was pressed on which United players would be considered good enough to play for City, Ferdinand said: "On form you have to say Marcus Rashford would have to be in the [Manchester City] team.
"You’ve got to say [Christian] Eriksen would be in with a shout, Bruno [Fernandes] would be in with a shout. Casemiro or Rodri is a massive one in terms of form. The two best holding midfielders in the league. [Lisandro] Martinez and Raphael Varane would have an argument to get in the team as well, so you could put a good case forward.
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"Definitely the distance is a bit closer but it’s still not anywhere where we want it to be. There is still work to be done.
"The fact you can have an argument over four or five players getting into the team, or to have a conversation about it at least, is a step in the right direction. But, listen, let’s not get it twisted. City are way ahead of where Man United are."
United could move to within a point of Manchester City in the table if they are able to extract a measure of revenge on Pep Guardiola's side on Saturday. And while Ferdinand admits there are no guarantees, he stresses that he is no longer going into big games fearing the worst.
He added: "I’m now going to a game not looking through my fingers expecting crazy s*** going on. I’m going there now thinking ‘actually, you know what, I fancy us today – I fancy us to beat them and dominate the ball’. You can see that something tactically has been going out every week now. You’re seeing players growing in confidence."
