Already looking like a potential title-decider, the meeting at the Etihad Stadium comes in a week when Premier League champions City finished bottom of their Champions League group and missed out on even second-tier Europa League soccer.
Top spot in the Premier League will be at stake in Sunday's Manchester derby between league leaders Manchester United and champions Manchester City.
Champions City are unbeaten in 15 Premier League matches this season and won both encounters with their neighbors last season en route to a first league title in 44 years, including a 6-1 defeat of United in the first clash.
Here are the facts on the battle for Manchester
1. There have been 163 derbies.
2. Ryan Giggs is the player with the most appearances in the derby, with 35.
3. The two teams first met on November 12, 1881, when West Gorton (St. Marks) hosted Newton Heath. The Heathens won 3-0.
4. The first Manchester derby to be played under floodlights was on February 26, 1889, it was played in aid of the Hyde Coal Mine disaster.
5. Although he can’t claim a clean sheet, Peter Schmeichel can claim to be unbeaten in derby appearances for both teams. He played for United from 1991 to 1999, and then for City in the 2002-03 season.
6. Steve Coppell played over 300 games for Manchester United, yet when he took as manager for Manchester City, he lasted a mere 32 days.
7. Owen Hargreaves is the last player to have played for both clubs. The first was Scot Bob Milarvie, who played for United from 1890-91, and City from 1891-96.
8. In 1978, players from both United and City played on the same team for Colin Bell's testimonial. They played a joint Everton-Liverpool team in a Manchester v Mersyside fixture.
9. The two teams have occupied the top and second spot of the football league at the end of the season on only two occasions. The first was 1967-68, and the second last season. Manchester City were on top both times, and they both went in on level points.
10. Manchester United have beaten City in 68 of 163 derbies. Two two have drawn 50.
11. Manchester City have never won a Charity Shield match against Man Utd.
12. Manchester City have the two highest scoring team members for derbies - both Joe Hayes and Francis Lee have 10 each.
13. Three semi-finals have been played between the two clubs - two in the FA Cup, one in the League Cup - but never have they met in a final.
14. Manchester City were the first of the two teams to win a trophy, in 1904.
15. The first time the two met in the Football League came in the 1894–95 season, with Newton Heath victorious over Manchester City 5–2 at Hyde Road.
16. Kevin Keegan managed the Manchester City team in the last derby at Maine Road, and Shaun Goater scored his 100th and 101st goal for the club in the same game.
17. In the 1970s, Denis Law’s last ever football league touch was a backheel against his old club of Manchester United. Later in the game, United supporters invaded the pitch, forcing the abandonment, but the result stood.
18. Manchester United won the first ever derby 5-1, on October 3, 1891.
19. The largest attendance for a derby was 78,000, when both clubs were playing at Manchester City’s Maine Road, on September 28, 1947.
20. Sir Alex Ferguson has managed United in 45 derbies
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