Postpublished at 15:57 British Summer Time 12 April 2015
The rain lashes down as the sides line up on the centre-circle. Cracking atmosphere, as you'd expect...
Man Utd four points clear of City
City have lost six of last eight games
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Tom Rostance
The rain lashes down as the sides line up on the centre-circle. Cracking atmosphere, as you'd expect...
No visible reaction from Yaya Toure. He's a brilliant player at times but he's never exactly 'pumped' is he?
Here come the teams. Definitely a day for long sleeves in my book. It's all fairly friendly in the tunnel, international team-mates shake hands and back slaps, there is rarely any needle these days it seems. The days of Gary Neville blanking Peter Schmeichel or his own brother are gone...
Joe Hart is always Mr. Vocal though. 'Come on Yaya!' he shouts. 'Get pumped up! It's your day!'
T is for thrashings
Derbies are traditionally tight, cagey affairs. Not always in Manchester.
Whether Blue or Red there are scorelines to haunt and laud.
City's 6-1 wrecking job at Old Trafford in October 2011 confirmed them as title, as well as local, rivals.
United's 5-0 home win in 1994 featured an Andrei Kanchelskis hat-trick against a City side slipping south fast.
That result in turn was seen as long overdue pay-back for City's famous 5-1 win over United in 1989 - a result dubbed the Demolition Derby that heaped pressure on a relatively recently installed Alex Ferguson.
BBC Sport pundit Robbie Savage
"Yaya Toure probably owes Manchester City a performance. He's sometimes a hindrance because of his lack of urgency to chase back and win it. Think of what Wayne Rooney does when he loses the ball - he chases back and fights to get it back. Toure needs show more of that, especially in a Manchester derby."
Is that Manuel Pellegrini admitting that the title has gone...?
Man City
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini: "Vincent Kompany is 100% fit, he has been fine for the past few days he has no problem.
"James Milner is always an important player for us, he can play in different positions. He was not 100% fit for the last game but now we hope he can see a more normal performance.
"We cannot put the season right with one performance. In this moment this game is for the fans, to be the team that dominates the city. We are fighting against United for the second, third and fourth places in the table.
"Both teams need to be at their best. It is always a close game."
Sergio Aguero has not scored in any of his last six competitive appearances for Man City.
Aguero has been stuck on 69 Premier League goals (level with Luis Suarez and Kevin Nolan) since February 21.
Alan Green
BBC Radio 5 live at Old Trafford
"Although Manchester City are closer to Liverpool in terms of points I think Brendan Rodgers would probably want them to win at Old Trafford today. Why? Because Manchester United have a much more difficult run in than City so maybe look more likely to drop points."
Man Utd
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal: "You start the match better if you have the momentum but a derby is always special. There are factors you cannot control as a manager. We have to wait and see.
"I never play a role to my players. I only prepare them like I always do. We know the qualities of our opponent.
"We are a different United to the first game against City this season. We lost that game but now we are in a better shape."
BBC Sport pundit Robbie Savage at Old Trafford
"Irrespective of the result in the Manchester derby today I can't see any of the current top four dropping out of the Champions League places."
Radamel Falcao and Angel Di Maria are not included for Manchester United this season, and I wonder what the South Americans make of the fact that it is currently snowing just outside Manchester.
The Manchester Evening News also report that, external "gusts in the city centre have reached 35 mph, with more rural areas seeing 50mph-60mph."
It's just like Madrid guys. Honest...
Manchester United have lost their last four league games against Manchester City; they've never lost five in a row.
Sergio Aguero has scored four goals in his last three Premier League matches against Manchester United.
The Red Devils have shipped 11 goals in their last three home clashes against City - losing them all.
Manchester City have won their last four derbies. Here's a rundown.
2 November 2014:
Manchester City 1-0 Manchester United
Sergio Aguero scored the only goal after Chris Smalling's stupid early red card for United.
25 March 2014:
Manchester United 0-3 Manchester City
Edin Dzeko scored in the first minute and added a second after Yaya Toure's low drive as David Moyes' final derby ends with a battering.
22 September 2013:
Manchester City 4-1 Manchester United
David Moyes' first derby is equally one-sided thanks to goals from Aguero (2), Toure and Samir Nasri. Wayne Rooney's late free-kick offered little in the way of consolation.
8 April 2013:
Manchester United 1-2 Manchester City
Goals from Sergio Aguero and James Milner cancel out a Vincent Kompany own goal to give City a win - but United still led the title race by 12 points in Sir Alex Ferguson's final derby...
Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer at Old Trafford
"Old Trafford's tannoy announcer - with great gusto and at full volume - welcomes supporters to "the world's greatest football club." Fair to say he is slightly biased - and also fair to say some of the time-honoured gestures of disapproval aimed in his direction from Manchester City's fans suggest they do not agree with him."
A criticism of Manchester City of late has been that their side is starting to look, well, old.
You could say 'settled' but City captain Vincent Kompany turned 29 on Friday, while players such as Yaya Toure, Pablo Zabaleta, Aleksandar Kolarov, James Milner, Edin Dzeko and David Silva are all also now senior statesmen within the group.
It's effectively the same team which won the title in 2012 but Kompany does not believe major surgery in the summer.
"This team doesn't need restructuring," he said.
"I would say it's more about refocusing. These criticisms about age come and go with form. If you are in good form and you're having a good season, then people say it's your experience that got you there.
"If you're having a bad run of form, like we are now, then age is the problem.
"We have to think outside of what people say. We've not been as good as we could have been. That's the bottom line and we need to solve that. But I can only speak from what I see and, looking around the dressing room, I haven't noticed that this team is coming to an end."
Is it fair to say that neither side are blessed with a great defence at the moment?
Samuel Small: The Manchester side would be: De Gea, Zabaleta, Kompany, Rojo, Blind, Yaya, Herrera, Di Maria, Mata Silva, Rooney (4-2-3-1)
Bradley C: Combined United and City team: De Gea, Zabaleta, Jones, Kompany, Blind, Carrick, Herrera, Silva, Young, Rooney, Aguero.
Peterwari Soberekon: My Manchester XI has to be the Man Utd starting line up... City have been garbage so none of them deserve a place in my team.
W is for 'Why always me?'
Who could forget Mario Balotelli's iconic celebration after scoring in City's 6-1 win at Old Trafford in 2011?
Balotelli had been in the news after fireworks were set off inside his bathroom in the build-up to the derby and provided the spark on the pitch with a brace in City's biggest derby-day win.
What would Eric say? I mean, honestly...