Two of English football's powerhouses collide as Manchester stands still for derby day when Pep Guardiola's City take on Erik Ten Hag's United at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon (1530 GMT).

t's Red vs Blue, the Toure brothers vs the Class of 92, the 13-time Premier League champions vs the seven-time Premier League champions, derby day has arrived in Manchester.

In a corner of North-West England, city rivals will butt heads once more and the stakes couldn't be higher in a potentially season defining match. 

That's enough spoilers for Peter Drury's pre-match poem, now it's time to get down to the nitty gritty. 

For Ten Hag and his troops, Champions League hopes are hanging by a thread after their defeat at home to Fulham last weekend, with the Red Devils currently occupying sixth place in the table, eight points behind Aston Villa in fourth.

Things were seemingly improving on the red side of Manchester with four consecutive Premier League wins, but as soon as free-scoring Rasmus Hojlund got injured, the side were brought back down to earth with a bump. 

Is it a case of no Hojlund, no party for Man United? Well, his presence will probably not have made much difference here. 

Guardiola has a good recent record in this fixture, turning Manchester blue five times out of the last six, including a memorable 6-3 demolition and the FA Cup final win. 

Man United fans certainly would not have liked seeing Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne tearing Luton apart in the FA Cup, with the Norwegian scoring five and four of them were set up by the Belgian midfield maestro.

Haaland's record in this fixture since arriving in this fixture has been ordinary by his standards, but it still stands at five goals in four appearances, including the first goal in two of those matches. 

While Ten Hag may have broken his top nine away hoodoo at Aston Villa, it still doesn't make good reading, with it standing at one win, two draws and 10 defeats.

One thing that may give Man United hope is their improvements in front of goal, as they have found the back of the net in each of their last 11 across all competitions, their longest scoring run of the season, so they should grab a consolation against a Man City defence that conceded two at Luton.

While the Citizens may have got their wings clipped a couple of weeks ago at home to Chelsea, they will be more than fired up for this one and look a good bet to make it six derby wins out of seven.

Manchester City's Josko Gvardiol and Jack Grealish are both ruled out with injury.

Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martinez, Anthony Martial, Tyrell Malacia, Rasmus Hojlund, Mason Mount, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire are all ruled out for Manchester United.

- Manchester City have scored 10 goals in the last two Manchester derbies at the Etihad Stadium

- Erling Haaland has five Manchester derby goals in just four appearances

- The reverse fixture at Old Trafford was a 3-0 victory for Man City

- Manchester United have conceded 18 goals in the last six derbies, an average of three per game

Man City Asian handicap -1.75

First goalscorer- Erling Haaland

Both teams to score