Written by Ricky Murray
The two biggest clubs from Manchester are meeting this Saturday; it is a fixture that has always been an important and mouth-watering encounter to fans from Manchester and beyond, even when Manchester City were in the football doldrums in the late 1990’s – early ‘00’s, but these matches have now taken on a more underlined resonance since City were given substantial financial backing (that’s an understatement) in attempting to compete with the ‘big boys’ of football. It is an opportunity and challenge that they have so far risen to, but will this match show just how far they have come?
The days of a Manchester United victory being a ‘foregone conclusion’ are now gone as the Blues make giant strides each season in their quest to be at the summit of English football again. So now, it is not only local pride and bragging rights that are at stake in their upcoming match, but also the small matter of the Premiership crown being up for grabs. Even though Alex Ferguson’s side are overwhelming favourites for the title this year, it is an opinion that is not as widespread when discussing the outcome of this particular fixture as Roberto Mancini’s team have their own title aspirations in sight. And indeed they are; as a win would take Mancini’s side to within two points of their neighbours, United, albeit the latter will still have a game in-hand. Who knows, if Fergie and his men start dropping points in the manner that they did in the first quarter of the season and City can find the consistency that they obtained from November up to their 1-0 defeat against Aston Villa last month, then we may very well see a new name inscribed onto the Premier League trophy in three months time.
There is potential for some intriguing clashes on Saturday. Will David Silva’s quick feet and movement be able to trick the no-nonsense Darren Fletcher? Will Wayne Rooney’s piledriver shots force his England team-mate Joe Hart into another embarrassing error? Another clash involving Rooney is the one that he may face against Vincent Kompany – a meeting of the short tempers in what promises to be a fiery encounter. The same could be said of the one that is likely to occur between Nemanja Vidic and Carlos Tevez – a former United player who left under a cloud against the imposing menace of the big Serbian, who has come to embody the passion and commitment that originally made Manchester United into the club that they are today. Tevez can mix it with the best of them, but the composure and inch perfect tackles of Vidic should not make it an easy afternoon for him.
Despite being given copious amounts of financial backing that has helped transform the inner and outer workings of the club including the transfer market, it is testament to how far City have come since those dark days of the late 90’s – when they were relegated to the third tier of football for the first time in their history – that they can now comfortably compete with the biggest names in football at a level footing; no longer is it the genius of Eric Cantona versus the ordinariness of Richard Edghill because now it is ‘Van der Sar vs. Hart, Kompany vs. Rooney, Nani vs. Milner, Tevez vs. Vidic’; they are encounters that any one of them could win. So, all in all, it is set up to be an enthralling battle, one that will play an indelible role in deciding whether the Premiership crown will reside in the Red half of Manchester or the Blue half of Manchester come May.
